A 3D current collector made of covalently connected carbon nanostructures is presented, which can significantly improve battery performance when used as the cathode and/or anode. A Li-S cell assembled using these current collectors, with the cathode loaded with elemental sulfur and the anode loaded with lithium metal, delivers a high-rate capacity of 860 mA h g at 12 C.

Low-energy density has long been the major limitation to the application of supercapacitors. Introducing topological defects and dopants in carbon-based electrodes in a supercapacitor improves the performance by maximizing the gravimetric capacitance per mass of the electrode. However, the main mechanisms governing this capacitance improvement are still unclear. We fabricated planar electrodes from CVD-derived single-layer graphene with deliberately introduced topological defects and nitrogen dopants in controlled concentrations and of known configurations, to estimate the influence of these defects on the electrical double-layer (EDL) capacitance. Our experimental study and theoretical calculations show that the increase in EDL capacitance due to either the topological defects or the nitrogen dopants has the same origin, yet these two factors improve the EDL capacitance in different ways. Our work provides a better understanding of the correlation between the atomic-scale structure and the EDL capacitance and presents a new strategy for the development of experimental and theoretical models for understanding the EDL capacitance of carbon electrodes.

To develop an efficient material for the cathode of the lithium−oxygen (Li−O 2 ) secondary battery, the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR and OER) on a well-defined graphene electrode have been investigated in a typical organic solvent, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The adsorption and desorption behaviors of the solvents on the graphene electrode surface were evaluated by an intrinsically surface-selective vibrational spectroscopy of sum frequency generation (SFG) during the ORR and OER. After the initial ORR depositing lithium peroxide (Li 2 O 2 ) on the graphene electrode surface in a LiClO 4 /DMSO solution, the SFG spectroscopy revealed that the subsequent OER oxidizing the Li 2 O 2 preferentially proceeds at the interface between the Li 2 O 2 and graphene rather than that between the Li 2 O 2 and bulk solution. Therefore, the OER tends to reduce the electric conductivity between the Li 2 O 2 and graphene by decreasing their contact area before a large part of the deposited Li 2 O 2 was oxidized, which elucidates the origin of the high overpotential for the OER.

Bats have been shown as important mammal resevoirs to carry a variety of zoonotic pathogens. To analyze pathogenic species in bats from southeast coastal regions of China, we performed metagenomic sequencing technology for high throughput sequencing of six sentinels from southeast coastal area of China. We obtained 5,990,261 high quality reads from intestine and lung tissue of 235 bats, including 2,975,371 assembled sequences. 631,490 reads predicted overlapping sequences for the open reading frame (ORF), which accounts for 2.37% of all the sequences (15,012/631,490). Further, the acquired virus sequences were classified into 25 viral families, including 16 vertebrate viruses, four plant viruses and five insect viruses. All bat samples were screened by specific PCR and phylogenetic analysis. Using these techniques, we discovered many novel bat viruses and some bat viruses closely-related to known human/animal pathogens, including coronavirus, norovirus, adenovirus, bocavirus, astrovirus, and circovirus. In summary, this study extended our understanding of bats as the viral reservoirs. Additionally, it also provides a basis for furher studying the transmission of viruses from bats to humans.

Patients with SLE who received HCQ had lower mortality rates due to any cause than those who did not. The survival benefit could be augmented by HCQ adherence.

The first earth-abundant cobalt-catalyzed highly branched- and enantioselective allylic amination of racemic branched allylic carbonates bearing alkyl groups with both aromatic and aliphatic amines has been developed. The process allows rapid access of allylic amines in high yields with exclusively branched selectivity and excellent enantioselectivities (normally 99% ee) under mild reaction conditions.

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A highly enantioselective cobalt-catalyzed reverse prenylation of β-ketoester with tertiary allylic carbonate to construct vicinal all-carbon quaternary carbon centers has been developed. By using the cobalt/(S,S)Ph-BPE complex generated in situ with zinc reduction, excellent branched to linear selectivity (>20:1) and up to 92% ee have been obtained.