Reinforced Composite Film on Lithium Metal Electrodes through Aryl Chlorosilane Treatment.

Lithium metal has great potential to become the anode for the next generation of high-energy-density batteries because of high capacity (3860 mAh g-1), lowest negative electrochemical potential, and low density. Low cycle efficiency and dendrite growth are two critical barriers for rechargeable batteries using Li metal as the anode, mainly due to the coupled mechanical/chemical degradation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer formed on the Li metal surface. In this work, we found that a composite film of lithium aryl silanolate with uniformly distributed submicron LiCl-dominant particles can in situ form on the Li metal surface by treating Li with a single phenyl substituted chlorosilane. The synergistic effect of the high modulus of the composite film resulted from both well-dispersed LiCl particles and phenyl ring structures, and the extra reinforcement by the π-π interaction of aryl silanolate molecules that coated on LiCl particles and Li electrode surface endows the artificial surface coating film with high modulus and stability, and, thus, suitable as an artificial SEI layer. The coin cells using the lithium metal electrodes with this Lithium silanolate/LiCl particle composite coating layer showed an improved cycle efficiency and the extended life in a relatively harsh cycling condition.

Osteogenic protein-1 alleviates high glucose microenvironment-caused degenerative changes in nucleus pulposus cells.

Increasing evidence has indicated a close relationship between diabetes mellitus (DM) and disc degeneration. As a potential therapeutic growth factor, osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1) has lots of protective effects on the healthy disc cell's biology. The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of OP-1 on degenerative changes of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells in a high glucose culture. Rat NP cells were cultured in the baseline medium or the high glucose (0.2 M) culture medium. OP-1 was added into the high glucose culture medium to investigate whether its has some protective effects against degenerative changes of NP cells in the high glucose culture. NP cell apoptosis ratio, caspase-3/9 activity, expression of apoptosis-related molecules (Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3), matrix macromolecules (aggrecan and collagen II), and matrix remodeling enzymes (MMP-3, MMP-13, and ADAMTS-4), and immuno-staining of NP matrix proteins (aggrecan and collagen II) were evaluated. Compared with the baseline culture, high glucose culture significantly increased NP cell apoptosis ratio, caspase-3/9 activity, up-regulated expression of Bax, caspase-3, MMP-3, MMP-13 and ADAMTS-4, down-regulated expression of Bcl-2, aggrecan and collagen II, and decreased staining intensity of aggrecan and collagen II. However, the results of these parameters were partly reversed by the addition of OP-1 in the high glucose culture. OP-1 can alleviate high glucose microenvironment-induced degenerative changes of NP cells. The present study provides that OP-1 may be promising in retarding disc degeneration in DM patients.

Resveratrol attenuates high glucose-induced nucleus pulposus cell apoptosis and senescence through activating the ROS-mediated PI3K/Akt pathway.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is closely correlated with disc degeneration. Nucleus pulposus (NP) cell apoptosis and senescence are typical cellular features within the degenerative disc. Resveratrol is a newly identified phytoalexin that has protective effects on cartilaginous tissue. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the whether resveratrol can protect against high glucose-induced NP cell apoptosis and senescence, and the potential mechanism in this process. METHODS: Rat NP cells were cultured in either 10% FBS culture medium (control group) or 10% FBS with a high glucose concentration (0.2 M, experiment group) for 3 days. Resveratrol or the combination of resveratrol and LY294002 was added into the culture medium of experiment group to investigate the effects of resveratrol and the PI3K/Akt pathway. RESULTS: High glucose significantly promoted NP cell apoptosis and NP cell senescence compared with the control group. Resveratrol exhibited protective effects against high glucose-induced NP cell apoptosis and senescence. Further analysis showed that resveratrol suppressed reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and increased the activity of the PI3K/Akt pathway under the high glucose condition. However, the LY294002 had no significant effects on ROS content in the resveratrol-treated high glucose group. CONCLUSION: Resveratrol can attenuate high glucose-induced NP cell apoptosis and senescence, and the activation of ROS-mediated PI3K/Akt pathway may be the potential mechanism in this process.

Systematic Investigation of the Alucone-Coating Enhancement on Silicon Anodes.

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is the most popular binder in commercial lithium-ion batteries but is incompatible with a silicon (Si) anode because it fails to maintain the mechanical integrity of the Si electrode upon cycling. Herein, an alucone coating synthesized by molecular layer deposition has been applied on the laminated electrode fabricated with PVDF to systematically study the sole impact of the surface modification on the electrochemical and mechanical properties of the Si electrode, without the interference of other functional polymer binders. The enhanced mechanical properties of the coated electrodes, confirmed by mechanical characterization, can help accommodate the repeated volume fluctuations, preserve the electrode structure during electrochemical reactions, and thereby, leading to a remarkable improvement of the electrochemical performance. Owing to the alucone coating, the Si electrodes achieve highly reversible cycling performance with a specific capacity of 1490 mA h g-1 (0.90 mA h cm-2) as compared to 550 mA h g-1 (0.19 mA h cm-2) observed in the uncoated Si electrode. This research elucidates the important role of surface modification in stabilizing the cycling performance and enabling a high level of material utilization at high mass loading. It also provides insights for the future development of Si anodes.

Unveiling the Critical Role of Polymeric Binders for Silicon Negative Electrodes in Lithium-Ion Full Cells.

Because of its natural abundance and high theoretical specific capacity (3579 mAh g-1, based on Li15Si4), silicon and its composites have been extensively studied as the negative electrode for future high energy density lithium-ion batteries. While rapid failure due to the significant volumetric strain of lithium-silicon reactions makes bulk silicon unsuitable for practical applications, silicon nanoparticles can sustain the large volume changes without fracturing. However, polymeric binders are usually required to maintain the structural integrity of electrodes made of particles. Recent lithium-ion half-cell tests have shown that lithium ion-exchanged Nafion (designated as Li-Nafion) and sodium alginate are highly promising binders for nanoparticle silicon electrodes. Nevertheless, there is scant information on the performance and durability of these electrodes in full cell tests which are likely to reveal the role of binders under more realistic conditions. This work focuses on understanding the role of various binders in lithium-ion full cells consisting of Si negative electrode and LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 positive electrode. This study demonstrates, possibly for the first time, that silicon nanoparticles with either Li-Nafion or sodium alginate as binder can maintain a constant capacity of 1200 mAh g-1 for more than 100 cycles. In addition, during deep charge/discharge cycling, silicon electrodes containing Li-Nafion, Nafion, and sodium alginate can exhibit better capacity retention and higher specific capacity than that of silicon electrodes using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a binder.

Low-Temperature Treated Lignin as Both Binder and Conductive Additive for Silicon Nanoparticle Composite Electrodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

This work demonstrates a high-performance and durable silicon nanoparticle-based negative electrode in which conventional polymer binder and carbon black additive are replaced with lignin. The mixture of silicon nanoparticles and lignin, a low cost, renewable, and widely available biopolymer, was coated on a copper substrate using the conventional slurry mixing and coating method and subsequently heat-treated to form the composite electrode. The composite electrode showed excellent electrochemical performance with an initial discharge capacity of up to 3086 mAh g-1 and retaining 2378 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at 1 A g-1. Even at a relatively high areal loading of ∼1 mg cm-2, an areal capacity of ∼2 mAh cm-2 was achieved. The composite electrode also displayed excellent rate capability and performance in a full-cell setup. Through synergistic analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman, and nanoindentation experiment results, we attribute the amazing properties of Si/lignin electrodes to the judicious choice of heat treatment temperature at 600 °C. At this temperature, lignin undergoes complex compositional change during which a balance between development of conductivity and retaining of polymer flexibility is realized. We hope this work could lead to practicable silicon-based negative electrodes and stimulate the interest in the utilization of biorenewable resources in advanced energy applications.

Ultrasonographic features of adenomyoepithelial adenosis: a case report and literature review.

Adenomyoepithelial adenosis of the breast is extremely rare. We treated a 35-year-old woman with two small painless hard lumps in her breasts. On ultrasonography, the lesion in the right breast (upper inner quadrant) showed heterogeneous echogenicity and irregular, well-defined, uniformly hypoechoic nodules separated by funiform hyperechoic areas. The entire lesion had unclear boundaries. Excisional biopsy showed adenomyoepithelial adenosis. The mass in the left breast was a fibroadenoma. Adenomyoepithelial adenosis can show local recurrence and malignant degeneration, therefore, preoperative ultrasonographic diagnosis is important for surgical planning. The differential diagnosis includes common adenosis, fibroadenoma, adenomyoepithelioma and adenomyoepithelial carcinoma.

Clinicopathological study of gene rearrangement and microRNA expression of primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

We studied the clinicopathological and imaging characteristics of primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (PCNS-DLBCL). Imaging, pathologic histology, and immunohistochemical staining characteristics were analyzed, and the immunoglobulin heavy and light chain gene rearrangement of 25 PCNS-DLBCL cases was examined. MicroRNA was extracted from 10 cases each of PCNS-DLBCL, extracerebral germinal center DLBCL (GC-DLBCL), and extracerebral non-GC-DLBCL (NGC-DLBCL); we conducted chip hybridization and comparatively analyzed the difference among the three. PCNS-DLBCLs typically involved no less than two cerebral lobes (10/25); the frontal lobe was affected most often (6/25). Target-shaped structures were observed in all PCNS-DLBCLs due to the proliferation of centroblast-like large lymphocytes surrounding the vessels. There was strong and diffuse immunostaining for CD20 and CD79a, and negative immunostaining for CD3, CD5, CD23, and cyclin D1 for all PCNS-DLBCLs. The percentage of cells with nuclear positivity for anti-Ki67 antibody ranged 50-90% (mean, 80%). Three, 19, and 22 PCNS-DLBCLs were CD10-, Bcl-6-, and melanoma ubiquitous mutated 1-positive, respectively. Twenty-four PCNS-DLBCLs were B-cell monoclonal. MicroRNA hybridization showed that 788 PCNS-DLBCL microRNAs/segments increased to at least twice that of NGC-DLBCLs, and 401 PCNS-DLBCL microRNAs/segments declined to less than half of that of NGC-DLBCLs. Six hundred and eleven PCNS-DLBCL microRNAs/segments increased to at least twice that of GC-DLBCLs, and 229 PCNS-DLBCL microRNAs/segments declined to less than half of that in GC-DLBCLs. PCNS-DLBCL typically affected multiple sites, tended to occur in older men, arose from activated B cells, had high B-cell monoclonality; its microRNA expression differed from that of NGC-DLBCL and GC-DLBCL.