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Biomass-derived porous carbon material with sulfur and nitrogen dual-doping exhibits great potential for energy storage devices.

The porous nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres derived from polyaniline are promising electrode materials for high performance supercapacitors due to their hierarchical porous structure and nitrogen-doping.

The wide-scale implementation of lithium-sulfur batteries is limited by their rapid capacity fading, which is induced by the pulverization of the sulfur cathode and dissolution of intermediate polysulfides. Herein, we reported the encapsulation of sulfur (S) into hierarchically porous carbon nanoplates (HPCN) derived from one-step pyrolysis of metal-organic frameworks (MOF-5). HPCN with an average thickness of ca. 50 nm exhibits a three-dimensional (3D) hierarchically porous nanostructure, high specific surface area (1645 m 2 g À1 ) and large pore volume (1.18 cm 3 g À1 ). When evaluated as a cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries, the HPCN-S composite demonstrates high specific capacity and excellent cycling performance.At a current rate of 0.1 C, the initial discharge capacity of HPCN-S is 1177 mA h g À1 . Even at a current rate of 0.5 C, it still delivers a discharge capacity of 730 mA h g À1 after 50 cycles and the Coulombic efficiency is up to 97%. The enhanced electrochemical performance of HPCN-S is closely related to its well-defined 3D porous plate nanostructure which not only provides stable electronic and ionic transfer channels, but also plays a key role as a strong absorbent to retain polysulfides and accommodate volume variation during the charge-discharge process.

Both inflammatory processes and glutamatergic systems have been implicated in the pathophysiology of mood-related disorders. However, the role of caspase-1, a classic inflammatory caspase, in behavioral responses to chronic stress remains largely unknown. To address this issue, we examined the effects and underlying mechanisms of caspase-1 on preclinical murine models of depression. We found that loss of caspase-1 expression in Caspase-1−/− knockout mice alleviated chronic stress-induced depression-like behaviors, whereas overexpression of caspase-1 in the hippocampus of wild-type (WT) mice was sufficient to induce depression- and anxiety-like behaviors. Furthermore, chronic stress reduced glutamatergic neurotransmission and decreased surface expression of glutamate receptors in hippocampal pyramidal neurons of WT mice, but not Caspase-1−/− mice. Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of caspase-1-interleukin-1β (IL-1β) signaling pathway prevented the depression-like behaviors and the decrease in surface expression of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) in stressed WT mice. Finally, the effects of chronic stress on both depression- and anxiety-like behaviors can be mimicked by exogenous intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of IL-1β in both WT and Caspase-1−/− mice. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that an increase in the caspase-1/IL-1β axis facilitates AMPAR internalization in the hippocampus, which dysregulates glutamatergic synaptic transmission, eventually resulting in depression-like behaviors. These results may represent an endophenotype for chronic stress-induced depression.

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Transport Unsaturated column Two-site kinetic attachment model a b s t r a c tThis study aims to explore the mechanisms governing the transport and retention kinetics of TiO 2 nanoparticle aggregates (NPAs) in flow-through columns of packed sand, particularly under unsaturated conditions. The study was carried out at different pHs (2.6, 7.1, and 9.6) and ionic strengths (ISs) (1.0, 10, and 50 mM). A two-site kinetic attachment model was used to describe transport behaviors of TiO 2 NPAs. At low ISs (i.e., 1.0 and 10 mM) and in neutral/alkaline conditions, high mobility of TiO 2 NPAs was observed in both saturated and unsaturated conditions. However, the retention of TiO 2 NPAs was substantially enhanced at the high IS (50 mM) and in extremely acidity condition (pH ¼ 2.6), because of increased aggregation and straining of TiO 2 NPAs during their transport course. The breakthrough curves (BTCs) of TiO 2 NPAs under unsaturated and saturated conditions almost overlapped, suggesting that decreasing the water saturation did not enhance the retention of TiO 2 NPAs in sand columns. This was probably due to the repulsive interactions existed between negatively charged airewater and TiO 2 NPAs systems that resulted in unfavorable attachment conditions. The two-site kinetic attachment model provided a good description for the BTCs of TiO 2 NPAs both in saturated and unsaturated conditions. The fitted parameters could successfully explain the transport behaviors of TiO 2 NPAs under various solution chemistries. ª