Clioquinol rescues yeast cells from Aß42 toxicity via the inhibition of oxidative damage.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, has gotten considerable attention. Previous studies have demonstrated that clioquinol (CQ) as a metal chelator is a potential drug for the treatment of AD. However, the mode of action of CQ in AD is still unclear. In our study, the antioxidant effects of CQ on yeast cells expressing Aß42 were investigated. We found that CQ could reduce Aß42 toxicity by alleviating reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and lipid peroxidation level in yeast cells. These alterations were mainly attributable to the increased reduced glutathione (GSH) content and independent of activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and/or catalase (CAT). CQ could affect antioxidant enzyme activity by altering the transcription level of related genes. Interestingly, it was noted for the first time that CQ could combine with antioxidant enzymes to reduce their enzymatic activities by molecular docking and circular dichroism spectroscopy. In addition, CQ restored Aß42-mediated disruption of GSH homeostasis via regulating YAP1 expression to protect cells against oxidative stress. Our findings not only improve the current understanding of the mechanism of CQ as a potential drug for AD treatment but also provide ideas for subsequent drug research and development.

Study on the Classification Performance of a Novel Wide-Neck Classifier.

A novelty-designed wide-neck classifier (WNC) was proposed to enhance the passing ability and classification efficiency of fine particles. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), we studied the flow field and velocity distribution in the newly designed WNC. The velocity of the fluid gradually decreased from the wall to the center and from the cylinder to the cone, which facilitates particle classification and thickening. The Reynolds number (Re) and turbulent intensity (I) inside the WNC were discussed. The turbulent intensity increased with increasing feed velocity and overflow outlet diameter and decreased with increasing feed concentration and spigot diameter. The classification of coal slurry was performed to analyze the performance of WNC. The classification efficiency increased with increasing feed velocity but decreased as the feed concentration, spigot diameter, and overflow outlet diameter increased. The predictive models for classification efficiency influenced by the operational and structural parameters were constructed at high correlation coefficients, and the average error of these models was analyzed at 0.28%. Our results can provide valuable insights into the development of mineral classification.

High-Performance Potassium-Tellurium Batteries Stabilized by Interface Engineering.

The emerging potassium-tellurium (K-Te) battery system is expected to realize fast reaction kinetics and excellent rate performance due to the exceptional electrical conductivity of Te. However, there has been a lack of fundamental knowledge about this new K-Te system, including the reaction mechanism and cathode structure design. Herein, a two-step reaction pathway from Te to K2 Te3 and ultimately to K5 Te3 is investigated in carbonate electrolyte-based K-Te batteries by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction characterizations. Additionally, the atomic layer deposition technique is adopted to deposit an ultrathin aluminum oxide (Al2 O3 ) film on the electrode surface, which induces the generation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase layer and reduces the loss of active materials effectively. Consequently, the rationally fabricated Te/porous carbon cathode with functional Al2 O3 coating delivers remarkable long-term cycling stability over 500 cycles at 1 C with an ultralow capacity decay of only 0.01% per cycle. This interface engineering strategy is validated to stabilize the electrode surface, enhance the structural integrity and ensure reliable electron transfer and K-ion conduction over repeated potassiation/depotassiation cycles. These findings are expected to promote the development of high-energy-density K-S/Se/Te batteries.

Artificial Cathode-Electrolyte Interphase towards High-Performance Lithium-ion Batteries: A Case Study of ß-AgVO3.

Silver vanadates (SVOs) have been widely investigated as cathode materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, similar to most vanadium-based materials, SVOs suffer from structural collapse/amorphization and vanadium dissolution from the electrode into the electrolyte during the Li insertion and extraction process, causing poor electrochemical performance in LIBs. We employ ultrathin Al2O3 coatings to modify ß-AgVO3 (as a typical example of SVOs) by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. The galvanostatic charge-discharge test reveals that ALD Al2O3 coatings with different thicknesses greatly affected the cycling performance. Especially, the ß-AgVO3 electrode with ~10 nm Al2O3 coating (100 ALD cycles) exhibits a high specific capacity of 271 mAh g-1, and capacity retention is 31%, much higher than the uncoated one of 10% after 100 cycles. The Coulombic efficiency is improved from 89.8% for the pristine ß-AgVO3 to 98.2% for Al2O3-coated one. Postcycling analysis by cyclic voltammetry (CV), cyclic voltammetry (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) disclose that 10-nm Al2O3 coating greatly reduces cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) resistance and the charge transfer resistance in the ß-AgVO3 electrode. Al2O3 coating by the ALD method is a promising technique to construct artificial CEI and stabilize the structure of SVOs, providing new insights for vanadium-based electrodes and their energy storage devices.

Enhanced reversibility and electrochemical window of Zn-ion batteries with an acetonitrile/water-in-salt electrolyte.

An acetonitrile/water-in-salt (AWIS) hybrid electrolyte was developed for Zn-ion batteries. Compared to conventional aqueous electrolytes, the AWIS hybrid electrolyte prolonged the lifespan of Zn|Zn cells from 150 to 2500 h and increased the upper cut-off voltage from 1.8 to 2.2 V for Zn-MnO2 batteries. This new AWIS hybrid electrolyte is expected to enhance the energy and power density of Zn-based batteries for large-scale grid storage.

A facile and low-cost Al2O3 coating as an artificial solid electrolyte interphase layer on graphite/silicon composites for lithium-ion batteries.

Graphite/silicon (G/Si) composites are considered as possible alternative anode materials to commercial graphite anodes. However, the unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on G/Si particles results in rapid capacity decay, impeding practical applications. Herein, a facile and low-cost Al2O3 coating was developed to fabricate stable artificial SEI layers on G/Si composites. The amorphous Al2O3 coating with a thickness of 10-15 nm was synthesized by a simple sol-gel method followed by high-temperature annealing. The Al2O3 coated G/Si anode delivers an initial discharge capacity of 540 mAh g-1 at 25 °C and has improved Coulombic efficiency and cycling stability. After 100 cycles, the capacity retention is 76.4%, much higher than the 56.4% of the uncoated anode. Furthermore, the Al2O3 coating was found to be more effective at improving the stability of G/Si at a higher temperature (55 °C). This was explained by the Al2O3 coating suppressing the growth of SEI on Si/G and thus reducing the charge transfer resistance at the G/Si-electrolyte interface. It is expected that the Al2O3 coating prepared by the sol-gel process can be applied to other Si-based anodes in the manufacture of practical high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

Molecular-layer-deposited tincone: a new hybrid organic-inorganic anode material for three-dimensional microbatteries.

A new hybrid organic-inorganic film, tincone, was developed by using molecular layer deposition (MLD), and exhibited high electrochemical activity toward Li storage. The self-limiting growth behavior, high uniformity on various substrates and good Li-storage performance make tincone a very promising new anode material for 3D microbatteries.

Spark Plasma Sintering of Lithium Aluminum Germanium Phosphate Solid Electrolyte and its Electrochemical Properties.

Sodium superionic conductor (NASICON)-type lithium aluminum germanium phosphate (LAGP) has attracted increasing attention as a solid electrolyte for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries (ASSLIBs), due to the good ionic conductivity and highly stable interface with Li metal. However, it still remains challenging to achieve high density and good ionic conductivity in LAGP pellets by using conventional sintering methods, because they required high temperatures (>800 °C) and long sintering time (>6 h), which could cause the loss of lithium, the formation of impurity phases, and thus the reduction of ionic conductivity. Herein, we report the utilization of a spark plasma sintering (SPS) method to synthesize LAGP pellets with a density of 3.477 g cm-3, a relative high density up to 97.6%, and a good ionic conductivity of 3.29 × 10-4 S cm-1. In contrast to the dry-pressing process followed with high-temperature annealing, the optimized SPS process only required a low operating temperature of 650 °C and short sintering time of 10 min. Despite the least energy and short time consumption, the SPS approach could still achieve LAGP pellets with high density, little voids and cracks, intimate grain-grain boundary, and high ionic conductivity. These advantages suggest the great potential of SPS as a fabrication technique for preparing solid electrolytes and composite electrodes used in ASSLIBs.