The sodium storage performance of a hard carbon (HC) anode in ether electrolytes exhibits a higher initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) and better rate performance compared to conventional ester electrolytes. However, the mechanism behind faster Na storage kinetics for HC in ether electrolytes remains unclear. Herein, a unique solvated Na+ and Na+ co‐intercalation mechanism in ether electrolytes is reported using designed monodispersed HC nanospheres. In addition, a thin solid electrolyte interphase film with a high inorganic proportion formed in an ether electrolyte is visualized by cryo transmission electron microscopy and depth‐profiling X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which facilitates Na+ transportation, and results in a high ICE. Furthermore, the fast solvated Na+ diffusion kinetics in ether electrolytes are also revealed via molecular dynamics simulation. Owing to the contribution of the ether electrolytes, an excellent rate performance (214 mAh g−1 at 10 A g−1 with an ultrahigh plateau capacity of 120 mAh g−1) and a high ICE (84.93% at 1 A g−1) are observed in a half cell; in a full cell, an attractive specific capacity of 110.3 mAh g−1 is achieved after 1000 cycles at 1 A g−1.

Autophagy, originally found in liver experiments, is a cellular process that degrades damaged organelle or protein aggregation. This process frees cells from various stress states is a cell survival mechanism under stress stimulation. It is now known that dysregulation of autophagy can cause many liver diseases. Therefore, how to properly regulate autophagy is the key to the treatment of liver injury. mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)is the core hub regulating autophagy, which is subject to different upstream signaling pathways to regulate autophagy. This review summarizes three upstream pathways of mTOR: the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase (AKT) signaling pathway, the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway, and the rat sarcoma (Ras)/rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (Raf)/mitogen-extracellular activated protein kinase kinase (MEK)/ extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway, specifically explored their role in liver fibrosis, hepatitis B, non-alcoholic fatty liver, liver cancer, hepatic ischemia reperfusion and other liver diseases through the regulation of mTOR-mediated autophagy. Moreover, we also analyzed the crosstalk between these three pathways, aiming to find new targets for the treatment of human liver disease based on autophagy.

Phosphorus-doped hard carbon nanofibers with macroporous structure were successfully synthesized by electrospinning followed by a thermal treatment process using polyacrylonitrile and HPO as carbon and phosphorus precursors, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis reveals that the doped phosphorus atoms can incorporate into the carbon framework and most of them are connecting with carbon atoms to form P-C bond. The (002) plane interlayer spacing was taken from the X-ray diffraction pattern, which shows a large spacing of 3.83 Å for the obtained P-doped hard carbon nanofibers. When used as an anode in sodium-ion batteries, the as-prepared P-doped hard carbon nanofibers can deliver a reversible capacity of 288 and 103 mAh g at a current density of 50 mA g and 2 A g, respectively. After 200 cycles at 50 mA g, the capacity retention of P-doped hard carbon nanofibers still reaches 87.8%, demonstrating good cycling durability. These excellent electrochemical performances of P-doped hard carbon nanofibers can be attributed to the macroporous structure, large interlayer spacing, and the formation of P-C bond.

Nevertheless, the research on SIBs was barely conducted after the successful commercialization of LIBs in 1990s, and this situation continued until the end of the 20th century. An obstacle toward the development of SIBs is the lack of suitable anode materials with acceptable performance. The early work conducted by Dahn et al. [5] suggested that hard carbon (HC) has a reversible capacity of 300 mAh g −1 for sodium, approaching the lithium storage capacity in graphite. Extensive attention has been focused on the development of SIBs recently, with a variety of materials being considered as potential anodes for SIBs, which includes alloys, [6-8] organic materials, [9-11] and carbonaceous materials. [12-14] Because of high sodium-ion storage capacity, appropriate working potential, excellent cycling stability, and natural abundance, HC represents the most promising anode for SIBs. Nowadays, increasing interests have been concentrated on revealing sodium intercalation process in HC, [15-19] but the steady state of sodium stored in HC still remains unexplored, which leads us to investigate the steady state of sodium ions in HC from thermodynamic and kinetic aspects. Heretofore, the steady state of sodium in HC has been incidentally proposed, but remains a controversial issue. Specifically, Stevens and Dahn [20] originally revealed the metallic nature of sodium absorbed in nanopores at the voltage plateau as the adsorption potential approaching the deposition potential of sodium metal. Meanwhile, the formation of metallic sodium was also confirmed with operando 23 Na solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and in situ Raman at the plateau region. [21,22] Moreover, Ji and co-workers [23] suggested that sodium adsorbed onto the pore surface is atomic even close to the cutoff potential (0.05-0 V). On the other hand, Liu et al. [19] demonstrated that neither metallic nor quasi-metallic sodium is presented in the whole discharge region over 0 V, based on the results of ex situ 23 Na NMR and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Recently, Guo et al. [13] claimed that sodium stored in the HC is in the ionic state above 0.1 V, whereas metallic sodium clusters form in the nanopores at the plateau voltage, with the methods of EPR, XRD, and Raman. Apparently, scattered efforts have been devoted to uncover the state of sodium stored in hard carbon recently, nevertheless, systematic investigations are Hard carbon (HC) is the most promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), nevertheless, the understanding of sodium storage mechanism in HC is very limited. As an important aspect of storage mechanism, the steady state of sodium stored in HC has not been revealed clearly to date. Herein, the formation mechanism of quasi-metallic sodium and the quasi-ionic bond between sodium and carbon within the electrochemical reaction on the basis of theoretical calculations are disclosed. The presence of quasi-metallic sodium is further confirmed with the assistance of a specific reaction between the sodiated HC electrode and eth...

Although significant advances have been made in synthetic nerve conduits and surgical techniques, complete regeneration following peripheral nerve injury (PNI) remains far from optimized. The repair of PNI is a highly heterogeneous process involving changes in Schwann cell phenotypes, the activation of macrophages, and the reconstruction of the vascular network. At present, the efficacy of MSC-based therapeutic strategies for PNI can be attributed to paracrine secretion. Exosomes, as a product of paracrine secretion, are considered to be an important regulatory mediator. Furthermore, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that exosomes from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can shuttle bioactive components (proteins, lipids, mRNA, miRNA, lncRNA, circRNA, and DNA) that participate in almost all of the abovementioned processes. Thus, MSC exosomes may represent a novel therapeutic tool for PNI. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of MSC exosomes related to peripheral nerve repair and provide insights for developing a cell-free MSC therapeutic strategy for PNI.