Polymer Electrolytes – New Opportunities for the Development of Multivalent Ion Batteries

Batteries, as highly concerned energy conversion system, have a great development prospect in various fields, especially in the field of energy powered vehicles. Multivalent ion batteries are getting more attention due to their low cost, high abundance in earth crust, high capacity and safety compared with Lithium batteries. Despite above advantages, several problems still need to be solved before multivalent ion batteries achieve large-scale application, such as interfacial parasitic reaction, anode passivation, and dendrites. The replacement of liquid electrolytes with gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) which pose high safety, high mechanical strength and simplified battery system, is an effective strategy to inhibit dendrite growth and improve electrochemical performance. This review mainly discusses the advantages and challenges of multivalent ion batteries including zinc, magnesium, calcium and aluminum batteries. Meanwhile, the major targets of this review are introducing the recent developments and making a summary of the future trends of GPEs in the multivalent ion batteries.     

A Novel Dual Drug Approach That Combines Ivermectin and Dihydromyricetin (DHM) to Reduce Alcohol Drinking and Preference in Mice

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) affects over 18 million people in the US. Unfortunately, pharmacotherapies available for AUD have limited clinical success and are under prescribed. Previously, we established that avermectin compounds (ivermectin [IVM] and moxidectin) reduce alcohol (ethanol/EtOH) consumption in mice, but these effects are limited by P-glycoprotein (Pgp/ABCB1) efflux. The current study tested the hypothesis that dihydromyricetin (DHM), a natural product suggested to inhibit Pgp, will enhance IVM potency as measured by changes in EtOH consumption. Using a within-subjects study design and two-bottle choice study, we tested the combination of DHM (10 mg/kg; i.p.) and IVM (0.5–2.5 mg/kg; i.p.) on EtOH intake and preference in male and female C57BL/6J mice. We also conducted molecular modeling studies of DHM with the nucleotide-binding domain of human Pgp that identified key binding residues associated with Pgp inhibition. We found that DHM increased the potency of IVM in reducing EtOH consumption, resulting in significant effects at the 1.0 mg/kg dose. This combination supports our hypothesis that inhibiting Pgp improves the potency of IVM in reducing EtOH consumption. Collectively, we demonstrate the feasibility of this novel combinatorial approach in reducing EtOH consumption and illustrate the utility of DHM in a novel combinatorial approach.     

Topological nature of in‐gap bound states in disordered large‐gap monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

We propose a physical model based on disordered (a hole punched inside a material) monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) to demonstrate a large‐gap quantum valley Hall insulator. We find an emergence of bound states lying inside the bulk gap of the TMDs. They are strongly affected by spin–valley coupling, rest‐ and kinetic‐mass terms and the hole size. In addition, in the whole range of the hole size, at least two in‐gap bound states with opposite angular momentum, circulating around the edge of the hole, exist.Their topological insulator (TI) feature is analyzed by the Chern number, characterized by spacial distribution of their probabilities and confirmed by energy dispersion curves (energy vs. angular momentum). It not only sheds light on overcoming low‐temperature operating limitation of existing narrow‐gap TIs, but also opens an opportunity to realize valley‐ and spin‐qubits. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Direct experimental limit on neutron-mirror-neutron oscillations

In case a mirror world with a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum would exist, the neutron n and its degenerate partner, the mirror neutron n', could potentially mix and undergo nn' oscillations. The interaction of an ordinary magnetic field with the ordinary neutron would lift the degeneracy between the mirror partners, diminish the n' amplitude in the n wave function and, thus, suppress its observability. We report an experimental comparison of ultracold neutron storage in a trap with and without superimposed magnetic field. No influence of the magnetic field is found and, assuming negligible mirror magnetic fields, a limit on the oscillation time taunn' > 103 s (95% C.L.) is derived.     

Fast resistive reconnection regime in the nonlinear evolution of double tearing modes

Phases of nonlinear double tearing modes are studied numerically. The first two phases lead to the formation and growth of magnetic islands and are followed by a fast reconnection phase to complete the process, driven by a process of neighboring magnetic separatrices merging and magnetic islands coupling. The fast growth can be understood as a result of the island interaction equivalent to a steadily inward flux boundary driven. Resistivity dependences for various phases are studied and shown by scaling analysis for the first time. It is found that after an early Sweet-Parker phase with a eta(1/2)-scale, a slow nonlinear phase in a Rutherford regime with a eta(1)-scale is followed by the fast reconnection phase with a eta(1/5)-scale.     

Unified Mie and fractal scattering by biological cells and subcellular structures

Angle-resolved light scattering spectroscopy of biological cells is investigated in the visible wavelength range. A unified Mie and fractal model is shown to provide an accurate global agreement with light scattering spectra from 1.1 degrees to 165 degrees scattering angles. It is found that light scattering in forward directions (<8 degrees ) is dominated by Mie scattering by the bare cell and nucleus, whereas light scattering at large angles (>20 degrees ) is determined by fractal scattering by subcellular structures. The findings are consistent with the results of experimental investigation of the contributions of different cellular components to light scattering by cells.     

An 18 Multi-InDels panel for analysis of highly degraded forensic biological samples

DNA genotyping from trace and highly degraded biological samples is one of the most significant challenges of forensic DNA identification. There is a lack of simple and effective methods for genotyping highly degraded samples. In this study, a multiple loci insertion/deletion polymorphisms (Multi-InDels) panel was designed for detecting 18 autosomal Multi-InDels through capillary electrophoresis (CE) with amplicon sizes no longer than 125 bp. Studies of sensitivity, degradation, and species specificity were performed and a population study was carried out using 192 samples from Han populations in Hunan province in the south of China. The combined random match probability (CMP) of these 18 Multi-InDels was 3.23 × 10^–12 and the cumulative probability of exclusion (CPE) was 0.9989, suggesting this panel could be used independently for human identification and could provide efficient supporting information for parentage testing. Complete profiles were obtained from as low as 62.5 pg of total input DNA after increasing the number of PCR cycles. Moreover, all alleles were detected from artificially highly degraded DNA after 80 min of boiling water bath treatment. This 18 Multi-InDels panel is simple, fast, and effective for the forensic analysis of highly degraded DNA.     

基于EPL的分布式时钟同步方法

工业以太网协议Ethernet POWERLINK(EPL)分布式站点的时钟同步方法并不能在实时运行过程中保持很高的同步精度,无法满足特定环境下的控制要求。研究了工业以太网协议EPL的两种时钟同步机制,通过数理计算分析了时钟同步误差产生的原因,针对误差较大的缺点,提出了减小误差的方法。通过迭代计算消除了主从站同步报文往返的路径延迟,并设计基于现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)的集线器(Hub)用于EPL菊花链网络拓扑结构,有效地克服了时钟同步报文往返传输延时不一致的缺点,测试结果表明新方法明显优于协议自身的时钟同步方法,对于实现基于EPL的高精度分布式时钟同步网络具有重要意义。     

Wide-band circular polarization-keeping reflection mediated by metasurface

In this paper,we show that circular polarization-keeping reflection can be achieved using reflective metasurfaces.The underlying physical mechanism of the polarization-keeping reflection is analyzed using a reflection matrix.A wideband circular polarization-keeping reflector is demonstrated using N-shaped resonators.Both the simulation and experiment results show that the polarization-keeping reflection can be achieved with a high efficiency larger than 98%over the frequency range from 9.2 GHz to 17.7 GHz for both incident left-and right-handed circularly polarized waves.Under oblique incidence,the bandwidth increases as the incident angle varies from 0°to 80°. Moreover,the co-polarization reflection is independent of the incident azimuth angles.     

Frequency-locking and threshold current-lowering effects of a quantum cascade laser and an application in gas detection field

In this paper,the frequency-locking and threshold current-lowering effects of a quantum cascade laser are studied and achieved.Combined with cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy,the noninvasive detection of H_2 with a prepared concentration of 500 ppm in multiple dissolved gases is performed and evaluated.The high frequency selectivity of 0.0051 cm~(-1) at an acquisition time of 1 s allows the sensitive detection of the(1-0) S(l) band of H_2 with a high accuracy of(96.53±0.29)%and shows that the detection limit to an absorption line of 4712.9046 cm~(-1) is approximately(17.26±0.63) ppm at an atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 20 ℃.