BACKGROUND: The aphid alarm pheromone, (E)-⊎-farnesene (E⊎F), is a natural product secreted from the aphid cornicle as a signal to warn companions of danger. Odorant binding proteins (OBPs) are the vital targets in insect signal transduction pathways. To improve bioactivity of E⊎F as more economic and stable aphid control agents, E⊎F derivatives containing an active substructure, salicylic acid moiety, were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their bioactivities in a structure-function study under laboratory conditions. RESULTS: E⊎F derivatives, (E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dien-1-yl-2-hydroxy-3-methylbenzoate and (E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dien-1-yl-2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoate showed outstanding aphid-repellent activity at a dose of 5 ∼g against Acyrthosiphon pisum (repellency proportions of 67.3% and 71.2%, respectively) and Myzus persicae (repellency proportions of 80.0% and 74.4%, respectively) in laboratory. E⊎F and most of its derivatives bound strongly to ApisOBP9 with a higher affinity than those of the reported potential targets AphisOBP3 and ApisOBP7. The binding affinities to these three ApisOBPs were generally consistent with the in vivo aphid-repellent activity. A molecular docking study suggested that the hydrophobic effect was crucial for the interactions between the derivatives and the OBPs. CONCLUSION: New E⊎F derivatives containing salicylic acid moiety and their repellent activity, binding mechanism with three potential OBPs are presented. A new OBP, ApisOBP9, was characterized as a potential E⊎F and E⊎F derivatives binding protein for the first time. The hydrophobic nature of these analogues is responsible for their activity. Two analogues 3b and 3e with outstanding aphid-repellent activity could be new leads for aphid control agents.
As a cathode for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 2 F 3 (NVPF) with 3D open framework is a promising candidate due to its high working voltage and large theoretical capacity. However, the severe capacity degradation and poor rate capability hinder its practical applications. The present study demonstrated the optimization of Na-storage performance of NVPF via delicate lattice modulation. Aliovalent substitution of V 3+ at Na + in NVPF induces the generation of electronic defects and expansion of Na + -migration channels, resulting in the enhancement in electronic conductivity and acceleration of Na +migration kinetics. It is disclosed that the formed stronger Na O bonds with high ionicity than V O bonds lead to the significant increase in structural stability and ionicity in the Na + -substituted NVPF (NVPF-Na x ). The aforementioned effects of Na + substitution achieve the unprecedented electrochemical performance in the optimized Na 3.14 V 1.93 Na 0.07 (PO 4 ) 2 F 3 (NVPF-Na 0.07 ). As a result, NVPF-Na 0.07 delivers a high-rate capability (77.5 mAh g −1 at 20 C) and ultralong cycle life (only 0.027% capacity decay per cycle over 1000 cycles at 10 C). Sodium-ion full cells are designed using NVPF-Na 0.07 as cathode and Se@reduced graphene oxide as anode. The full cells exhibit excellent wide-temperature electrochemical performance from −25 to 25 C with an outstanding rate capability (96.3 mAh g −1 at 20 C). Furthermore, it delivered an excellent cycling performance over 300 cycles with a capacity retention exceeding 90% at 0.5 C under different temperatures. This study demonstrates a feasible strategy for the development of advanced cathode materials with excellent electrochemical properties to achieve high-efficiency energy storage. K E Y W O R D Scathode, full cell, ionicity, Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 2 F 3 , sodium-ion batteries
As promising cathode for sodium-ion batteries, Na + Superionic Conductor (NASICON)-type materials have attracted attention owing to their excellent structural stability, superior ionic conductivity, and small volume expansion. However, the vanadium-based NASICON-type cathode with the biotoxicity and exorbitant price of V element and the iron-based cathode with low mean working voltage as well as the intrinsic poor electronic conductivity of polyanionic compounds hinder their practical applications. Herein, a doublecarbon-layer decorated heterogeneous composite, Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 -Na 3 Fe 2 (PO 4 ) (P 2 O 7 ) (NVFPP/C/G), is successfully prepared for addressing these limitations. Due to their synergistic effect, NVFPP/C/G exhibits excellent electrochemical performance in half-cell system and superior full-cell performance when matched with hard carbon anode. Furthermore, the phase composition, electrode kinetics, and phase transition are confirmed by combined analyses of slow scanning power X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry with various scan rates, galvanostatic intermittent titration technique, ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectra, and in situ X-ray diffraction. This study portends a promising strategy to utilize composite structure engineering for developing advanced polyanionic cathodes.
Dual-ion batteries (DIBs) are a viable option for large-scale energy storage owing to their high energy density, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, interfacial instability at both the cathode and anode in Li-graphite DIBs (LG-DIBs) contributes to poor cycling performance and failed energy storage, severely limiting their application potentials. Herein, a two-pronged strategy is used to improve the interfacial stability, synergistically stabilizing the graphite cathode by applying a rigid/inert surface coating while building a 3D framework on the lithium anode. The resultant LG-DIBs are ultrastable and achieve a long cycle life (capacity retention of 80% after 2700 cycles at 200 mA −1 ) in the all-climate temperature range from −25 to 40 °C. Ex situ characterization reveals that the cathode-electrolyte interphase on graphite is stabilized by suppressing the electrolyte decomposition and reducing graphite exfoliation. Simultaneously, the framework constructed on the lithium anode induces uniform and dendrite-free Li deposition owing to its 3D structure. This study not only contributes to the development of practical LG-DIBs but also points out a promising research direction for other new types of batteries.
Flexible Na/K‐ion batteries (NIBs/KIBs) exhibit great potential applications and have drawn much attention due to the continuous development of flexible electronics. However, there are still many huge challenges, mainly the design and construction of flexible electrodes (cathode and anode) with outstanding electrochemical properties. In this work, a unique approach to prepare flexible electrode is proposed by utilizing the commercially available cotton cloth–derived carbon cloth (CC) as a flexible anode and the substrate of a cathode. The binder‐free, self‐supporting, and flexible cathodes (FCC@N/KPB) are prepared by growing Prussian blue microcubes on the flexible CC (FCC). Na/K‐ion full batteries (FCC//FCC@N/KPB) are assembled by using FCC and FCC@N/KPB as anode and cathode, respectively. Electrochemical performance, mechanical flexibility, and practicability of FCC//FCC@N/KPB Na/K‐ion full batteries are evaluated in both coin cells and flexible pouch cells, demonstrating their superior energy‐storage properties (excellent rate performance and cycling stability) and remarkable flexibility (they can work under different bending states). This work provides a new and profound strategy to design flexible electrodes, promoting the development of flexible NIBs/KIBs to be practical and sustainable.
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