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Food grade starch flexible electrolyte with unique ionic conductivity at room temperature is reported for all-solid-state lithium sulfur batteries that deliver average capacities of 864 mA h g−1 at 0.1 C for 100 cycles and 388 mA h g−1 at 2 C for 2000 cycles.

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Recovery of cobalt and lithium from spent Li-ion batteries (LIBs) has been studied using ultrasound-assisted leaching. The primary purpose of this work is to investigate the effects of ultrasound on leaching efficiency of cobalt and lithium. The results were compared to conventional leaching. In this study sulfuric acid was used as leaching agent in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The cathode active materials from spent battery were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) before and after leaching. Effects of leaching time, leaching temperature, HSO concentration, HO concentration, solid/liquid ratio, and ultrasonic power have been studied. Optimal leaching efficiency of 94.63% for cobalt, and 98.62% for lithium, respectively, was achieved by using 2 M HSO with 5% (v/v) HO at a solid/liquid ratio of 100 g/L, and an ultrasonic power of 360 W, and the leaching time being 30 min under 30 °C. Compared with conventional leaching, the ultrasound-assisted leaching gave a higher leaching rate and improved leaching efficiency under the same experimental conditionals. The kinetic analysis of ultrasound-assisted leaching showed that the activation energy of cobalt and lithium were 3.848 KJ/mol and 11.6348 KJ/mol, respectively, indicating that ultrasound-assisted leaching of cobalt and lithium from spent LIBs was controlled by diffusion.

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Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and is considered as a complex and heterogeneous disease. The identification of novel biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer and prediction of disease outcome is urgently required. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding endogenous RNA molecules that act to regulate gene expression and play vital roles in many crucial processes. Recent evidence demonstrates that miRNAs could emerge as revolutionary sources of biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. miR-21 is one of the most commonly observed aberrant miRNAs in a variety of cancers including breast cancer. Emerging studies show that miR-21 could be measured stably and easily in tumor tissues, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues and blood circulation. In this review, we will summarize the current evidence of miR-21 as a promising biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis in breast cancer. We will also discuss the issues and challenges of miR-21 as a potential biomarker in future clinical applications.