Jishou University

We report a new class of Zn anodes modified by a three-dimensional nanoporous ZnO architecture (Zn@ZnO-3D), which can accelerate the kinetics of Zn²⁺ transfer and deposition, inhibit dendrite growth, and reduce the side-reactions.

Abstract In recent years, the increasing demand for high‐capacity and safe energy storage has focused attention on zinc batteries featuring high voltage, high capacity, or both. Despite extensive research progress, achieving high‐energy‐density zinc batteries remains challenging and requires the synergistic regulation of multiple factors including reaction mechanisms, electrodes, and electrolytes. In this Review, we comprehensively summarize the rational design strategies of high‐energy‐density zinc batteries and critically analyze the positive effects and potential issues of these strategies in optimizing the electrochemistry, cathode materials, electrolytes, and device architecture. Finally, the challenges and perspectives for the further development of high‐energy‐density zinc batteries are outlined to guide research towards new‐generation batteries for household appliances, low‐speed electric vehicles, and large‐scale energy storage systems.

Solar-to-chemical energy conversion via heterogeneous photocatalysis is one of the sustainable approaches to tackle the growing environmental and energy challenges. Among various promising photocatalytic materials, plasmonic-driven photocatalysts feature prominent solar-driven surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Non-noble plasmonic metals (NNPMs)-based photocatalysts have been identified as a unique alternative to noble metal-based ones due to their advantages like earth-abundance, cost-effectiveness, and large-scale application capability. This review comprehensively summarizes the most recent advances in the synthesis, characterization, and properties of NNPMs-based photocatalysts. After introducing the fundamental principles of SPR, the attributes and functionalities of NNPMs in governing surface/interfacial photocatalytic processes are presented. Next, the utilization of NNPMs-based photocatalytic materials for the removal of pollutants, water splitting, CO2 reduction, and organic transformations is discussed. The review concludes with current challenges and perspectives in advancing the NNPMs-based photocatalysts, which are timely and important to plasmon-based photocatalysis, a truly interdisciplinary field across materials science, chemistry, and physics.

Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy represents a major breakthrough in cancer treatment, and it has achieved unprecedented success in hematological malignancies, especially in relapsed/refractory (R/R) B cell malignancies. At present, CD19 and BCMA are the most common targets in CAR-T cell therapy, and numerous novel therapeutic targets are being explored. However, the adverse events related to CAR-T cell therapy might be serious or even life-threatening, such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS), CAR-T-cell-related encephalopathy syndrome (CRES), infections, cytopenia, and CRS-related coagulopathy. In addition, due to antigen escape, the limited CAR-T cell persistence, and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, a considerable proportion of patients relapse after CAR-T cell therapy. Thus, in this review, we focus on the progress and challenges of CAR-T cell therapy in hematological malignancies, such as attractive therapeutic targets, CAR-T related toxicities, and resistance to CAR-T cell therapy, and provide some practical recommendations.

Graphene oxide (GO) is emerging as a potential adsorbent for environmental cleanup due to its attractive attributes associated with high removal efficiency toward water pollutants. However, it is difficult to separate GO from water after adsorption. Until now, the development of an effective approach that can simultaneously take advantage of the adsorption feature of GO and overcome the separation problem is still a challenge. Herein, we demonstrate a simple one-step approach to fabricate magnetic GO/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composite gels (mGO/PVA CGs), which not only exhibit convenient magnetic separation capability but also show remarkably enhanced adsorption capacity for cationic methylene blue (MB) and methyl violet (MV) dyes as compared with the one without GO (e.g., the adsorption capacities of mGO/PVA-50% and mGO/PVA-0% for MB are 231.12 and 85.64 mg/g, respectively). Detailed adsorption studies reveal that the adsorption kinetics and isotherms can be well-described by pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir isotherm model, respectively. Moreover, the adsorbent could be well regenerated in an acid solution without obvious compromise of removal efficiency. Considering the facile fabrication process and robust adsorption performance of the mGO/PVA CG, this work opens up enormous opportunities to bring GO from experimental research to practical water treatment applications. In addition, the mGO/PVA CG can act as a magnetic support for in situ growth of noble metal nanocatalyst with excellent catalytic performance, as exemplified by the synthesis of mGO/PVA-Pt catalyst in this paper.

Deficient spinel ZnMn₂O₄with a hollow porous structure was prepared through a solvothermal carbon template dispersed by polyvinyl pyrrolidone.

Zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) have been gradually developed in recent years due to their abundant resources, low cost, and environmental friendliness. Therefore, ZIBs have received a great deal of attention from researchers, which are considered as the next generation of portable energy storage systems. However, poor overall performance of ZIBs restricts their development, which is attributed to zinc dendrites and a series of side reactions. Constructing 3D zinc anodes has proven to be an effective way to significantly improve their electrochemical performance. In this review, the challenges of zinc anodes in ZIBs, including zinc dendrites, hydrogen evolution and corrosion, as well as passivation, are comprehensively summarized and the energy storage mechanisms of the zinc anodes and 3D zinc anodes are discussed. 3D zinc anodes with different structures including fiberous, porous, ridge-like structures, plated zinc anodes on different substrates and other 3D zinc anodes, are subsequently discussed in detail. Finally, emerging opportunities and perspectives on the material design of 3D zinc anodes are highlighted and challenges that need to be solved in future practical applications are discussed, hopefully illuminating the way forward for the development of ZIBs.

The design of photocatalysts with hierarchical pore sizes is an effective method to improve mass transport, enhance light absorption, and increase specific surface area. Moreover, the construction of a heterojunction at the interface of two semiconductor photocatalysts with suitable band positions plays a crucial role in separating and transporting charge carriers. Herein, ZIF-8 and urea are used as precursors to prepare hierarchically porous ZnO/g-C3N4 S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts through a two-step calcination method. This S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst shows high activity toward photocatalytic H2O2 production, which is 3.4 and 5.0 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4 and ZnO, respectively. The mechanism of charge transfer and separation within the S-scheme heterojunction is studied by Kelvin probe, in situ irradiated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ISI-XPS), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). This research provides an idea of designing S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts with hierarchical pores in efficient photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide production.

Key concepts and challenges of zeolite-supported metal catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation of selected biomass-derived platform molecules.

We present a novel, structurally simple, multifunctional broadband absorber. It consists of a patterned vanadium dioxide film and a metal plate spaced by a dielectric layer. Temperature control allows flexible adjustment of the absorption intensity from 0 to 0.999. The modulation mechanism of the absorber stems from the thermogenic phase change properties of the vanadium dioxide material. The absorber achieves total reflection properties in the terahertz band when the vanadium dioxide is in the insulated state. When the vanadium dioxide is in its metallic state, the absorber achieves near-perfect absorption in the ultra-broadband range of 3.7 THz-9.7 THz. Impedance matching theory and the analysis of electric field are also used to illustrate the mechanism of operation. Compared to previous reports, our structure utilizes just a single cell structure (3 layers only), and it is easy to process and manufacture. The absorption rate and operating bandwidth of the absorber are also optimised. In addition, the absorber is not only insensitive to polarization, but also very tolerant to the angle of incidence. Such a design would have great potential in wide-ranging applications, including photochemical energy harvesting, stealth devices, thermal emitters,

in the middle, and a bottom Au layer. The absorption sensor achieves the absorption efficiency of 99.41% and 99.22% at 5.664 THz and 8.062 THz, with the absorption bandwidths 0.0171 THz and 0.0152 THz, respectively. Compared with noble metal absorbers, our graphene absorber can achieve tunability by adjusting the Fermi level and relaxation time of the graphene layer with the geometry of the absorber unchanged, which greatly saves the manufacturing cost. The results show that the sensor has the properties of polarization-independence and large-angle insensitivity due to the symmetric structure. In addition, the practical application of testing the content of hemoglobin biomolecules was conducted, the frequency of first resonance mode shows a shift of 0.017 THz, and the second resonance mode has a shift of 0.016 THz, demonstrating the good frequency sensitivity of our sensor. The S (sensitivities) of the sensor were calculated at 875 GHz/RIU and 775 GHz/RIU, and quality factors FOM (Figure of Merit) are 26.51 and 18.90, respectively; and the minimum limit of detection is 0.04. By comparing with previous similar sensors, our sensor has better sensing performance, which can be applied to photon detection in the terahertz band, biochemical sensing, and other fields.

Solar energy absorption is a very important field in photonics. The successful development of an efficient, wide-band solar absorber is an extremely powerful driver in this field. We propose an ultra-wideband (UWB) solar energy absorber composed of a Ti ring and SiO2-Si3N4-Ti thin films. In the range of 300-4000 nm, the wide band has an absorption efficiency of more than 90% and can reach 3683 nm, and it has four absorption peaks with a high absorptivity. Moreover, the weighted average absorption efficiency of the solar absorber under AM 1.5 is maintained above 97.03%, which indicates it has great potential for use in the field of solar energy absorption. Moreover, we proved that the polarization is insensitive by analyzing the absorption characteristics at arbitrary polarization angles. For both the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes, the UWB absorption is maintained at more than 90% in the wide incidence angle range of 60°. The UWB solar energy absorber has great potential for use in a variety of applications, such as converting solar light and heat into electricity for public use and reducing the side effects of coal-fired power generation. It can also be used in information detection and infrared thermal imaging owing to its UWB characteristics.

A novel 2D/0D C 3 N 5 /Bi 2 WO 6 S-scheme heterojunction with enhanced structural defects has been designed for the efficient elimination of pharmaceutical antibiotics and Cr( vi ).

, respectively. Therefore, this study has provided a new inspiration for the design of the graphene-based tunable multi-band perfect metamaterial absorber, which can be applied to the fields such as photodetectors and chemical sensors.

A eutectic electrolyte strategy is proposed for zinc-iodine battery. Both the reasonable solvated structure and suppressed generation of I 3 − as an intermediate product achieve the high reversible I − /I 0 conversion.

Abstract This review shows a close biogeographic connection between eastern Asia and western North America from the late Cretaceous to the late Neogene in major lineages of vascular plants (flowering plants, gymnosperms, ferns and lycophytes). Of the eastern Asian–North American disjuncts, conifers exhibit a high proportion of disjuncts between eastern Asia and western North America. Several lineages of ferns also show a recent disjunct pattern in the two areas. In flowering plants, the pattern is commonly shown in temperate elements between northeastern Asia and northwestern North America, as well as elements of the relict boreotropical and Neogene mesophytic and coniferous floras. The many cases of intercontinental biogeographic disjunctions between eastern Asia and western North America in plants supported by recent phylogenetic analyses highlight the importance of the Bering land bridge and/or the plant migrations across the Beringian region from the late Cretaceous to the late Neogene, especially during the Miocene. The Beringian region has permitted the filtering and migration of certain plant taxa since the Pliocene after the opening of the Bering Strait, as many conspecific taxa or closely related species occur on both sides of Beringia.

The Lyapunov equation is widely employed in the engineering field to analyze stability of dynamic systems. In this paper, based on a new evolution formula, a novel finite-time recurrent neural network (termed finite-time Zhang neural network, FTZNN) is proposed and studied for solving a nonstationary Lyapunov equation. In comparison with the original Zhang neural network (ZNN) model for a nonstationary Lyapunov equation, the convergence performance has a remarkable improvement for the proposed FTZNN model and can be accelerated to finite time. Besides, by solving the differential inequality, the time upper bound of the FTZNN model is computed theoretically and analytically. Simulations are conducted and compared to validate the superiority of the FTZNN model to the original ZNN model for solving the nonstationary Lyapunov equation. At last, the FTZNN model is successfully applied to online tracking control of a wheeled mobile manipulator.

Using neural networks to handle intractability problems and solve complex computation equations is becoming common practices in academia and industry. It has been shown that, although complicated, these problems can be formulated as a set of equations and the key is to find the zeros of them. Zeroing neural networks (ZNN), as a class of neural networks particularly dedicated to find zeros of equations, have played an indispensable role in the online solution of time-varying problem in the past years and many fruitful research outcomes have been reported in the literatures. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive survey of the research on ZNNs, including continuous-time and discrete-time ZNN models for various problems solving as well as their applications in motion planning and control of redundant manipulators, tracking control of chaotic systems, or even populations control in mathematical biosciences. By considering the fact that real-time performance is highly demanded for time-varying problems in practice, stability and convergence analyses of different continuous-time ZNN models are reviewed in detail in a unified way. For the case of discrete-time problems solving, the procedures on how to discretize a continuous-time ZNN model and the techniques on how to obtain an accuracy solution are summarized. Concluding remarks and future directions of ZNN are pointed out and discussed.

Chest computed tomography (CT) becomes an effective tool to assist the diagnosis of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide, using the computed-aided diagnosis technique for COVID-19 classification based on CT images could largely alleviate the burden of clinicians. In this paper, we propose an Adaptive Feature Selection guided Deep Forest (AFS-DF) for COVID-19 classification based on chest CT images. Specifically, we first extract location-specific features from CT images. Then, in order to capture the high-level representation of these features with the relatively small-scale data, we leverage a deep forest model to learn high-level representation of the features. Moreover, we propose a feature selection method based on the trained deep forest model to reduce the redundancy of features, where the feature selection could be adaptively incorporated with the COVID-19 classification model. We evaluated our proposed AFS-DF on COVID-19 dataset with 1495 patients of COVID-19 and 1027 patients of community acquired pneumonia (CAP). The accuracy (ACC), sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), AUC, precision and F1-score achieved by our method are 91.79%, 93.05%, 89.95%, 96.35%, 93.10% and 93.07%, respectively. Experimental results on the COVID-19 dataset suggest that the proposed AFS-DF achieves superior performance in COVID-19 vs. CAP classification, compared with 4 widely used machine learning methods.

Exploring and achieving precise electron-transfer channels in the interface of Z-scheme heterojunctions are essential and have been considered as immense challenges. A strategy to precisely connect the valence band (VB) site of g-C3N4 (CN) with the conduction band (CB) site of WO3 through the tungsten–nitrogen (W–N) bond was developed to create a chemically bonded Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst. Because of this reason, the photogenerated electrons from the CB site of WO3 could be accurately and directly injected into the VB site of CN, following the direct Z-scheme charge separation pathways. The photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of optimal CNWB was 482 μmol h–1, 4.3 times higher than that of CN/WO3 without an N–W bond (CNWU). The CNWB also shows better photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity than the previous CN/WO3 systems. Theoretical and experimental results further confirm that the newly formed N–W bonds become metallic, which could act as atomic-level interfacial channels to precisely accelerate Z-scheme interfacial electron transfer and shorten the electron-transfer distance, thus substantially boosting photocatalytic H2 generation. This work paves a way to design and synthesize the chemically bonded Z-scheme interface with atomic precision for interesting photocatalytic applications in the future.