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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder with cognitive deficits, which is becoming markedly more common in the world. Currently, the exact cause of AD is still unclear, and no curative therapy is available for preventing or mitigating the disease progression. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), a natural phenolic compound derived from honeybee hive propolis, has been reported as a potential therapeutic agent against AD, while its application is limited due to the low water solubility and poor bioavailability. Here, caffeic acid phenethyl ester 4-O-glucoside (FA-97) is synthesized. We validate that FA-97 attenuates H2O2-induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y and PC12 cells and suppresses H2O2-induced oxidative stress by inhibiting the ROS level, malondialdehyde (MDA) level, and protein carbonylation level, as well as induces cellular glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Mechanistically, FA-97 promotes the nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of Nrf2 associated with the upregulated expression of HO-1 and NQO-1. The prime importance of Nrf2 activation in the neuroprotective and antioxidant effects of FA-97 is verified by Nrf2 siRNA transfection. In addition, FA-97 prevents scopolamine- (SCOP-) induced learning and memory impairments in vivo via reducing neuronal apoptosis and protecting against cholinergic system dysfunction in the hippocampus and cortex. Moreover, the increased MDA level and low total antioxidant capacity in SCOP-treated mouse brains are reversed by FA-97, with the increased expression of HO-1, NQO-1, and nuclear Nrf2. In conclusion, FA-97 protects against oxidative stress-mediated neuronal cell apoptosis and SCOP-induced cognitive impairment by activating Nrf2/HO-1 signaling, which might be developed as a therapeutic drug for AD.

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one important strategy is to prepare micrometer-sized secondary particles composed of agglomerated nanosized primary particles. However, abrupt anisotropic lattice shrinkage occurs along the crystallographic c-axis derived from phases transitions (H2 → H3) at high states of charge, potentially resulting in the generation and buildup of substantial mechanical stress, which is the root cause of microcracks formation, eventual pulverization and electrical isolation of the secondary particles during prolonged cycling. [2] Note that intragranular microcracking has deleterious effects on the performances of nickel-rich cathode, which might provide fast channel for electrolyte infiltration into the particle interior, accelerating parasitic side reactions at the internal electrode/electrolyte interface and associated accumulation of NiO-like detrimental phase and continuous impedance growth. [2b,3] What's worse, a series of other degradation processes could in turn be triggered by this chain-reaction mode. For example, H + species in the electrolyte would severely corrode the surface of reactive particles, giving rise to the dissolution of transition metal (TM) ions, coupled with the release of oxygen, and it further induces profound voltage attenuation and negative safety issues. [3a,4] Therefore, the massive applications of nickel-rich cathodes mainly rely on addressing these bottleneck problems.The discussions above highlight the demand to prevent both physical and chemical degradation of Ni-rich cathodes. Element doping in the bulk phase has been proven to be one of the most effective remedies to inhibit problematic microcracks and stabilize the crystal structure of Ni-enriched layered cathodes. [3b,c,5] In recent years, various ion dopants, such as B, [3b,5a,6] Zr, [5b,c] W, [5d,e] Nb, [5f ] Mg, [5g,h] Ta, [5c] Ce, [5i] Mo, [5j] and Al [5k,7] etc., have been reported to arrest the pernicious effect. For example, Hong and co-workers incorporated element B into the crystal structure of Ni-rich cathode, which remarkably alleviates the inherent microcracking problem. [6] With boron ions introduced into the microstructure, the randomly oriented elongated polygonal primary particles could be transformed into highly textured plate-like microstructures distributed along the radial direction, significantly releasing the interior mechanical strain in the highly delithiated state. Thereby the nucleation and Capacity fading and safety concerns accompanied other deep-rooted challenges have severely hindered commercial development of Ni-rich layered cathodes. Herein, a robust Sr-doped Ni-rich cathode is structurally designed by the reconstruction of the crystal lattice and electronic distribution. Notably, the orbital hybridization between Ni 3d (t 2g ) and O 2p is remarkably reinforced owing to the shortened NiO bond enabled by the electrostatic interaction between Ni and Sr atoms, giving rise to the enhanced crystal structure. Theoretically, the formation energy of oxygen vacancies is greatly increased due to the...

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LiCoO2 (LCO) is widely applied in today's rechargeable battery markets for consumer electronic devices. However, LCO operations at high voltage are hindered by accelerated structure degradation and electrode/electrolyte interface decomposition. To overcome these challenges, co‐modified LCO (defined as CB‐Mg‐LCO) that couples pillar structures with interface shielding are successfully synthesized for achieving high‐energy‐density and structurally stable cathode material. Benefitting from the “Mg‐pillar” effect, irreversible phase transitions are significantly suppressed and highly reversible Li+ shuttling is enabled. Interestingly, bonding effects between the interfacial lattice oxygen of CB‐Mg‐LCO and amorphous CoxBy coating layer are found to elevate the formation energy of oxygen vacancies, thereby considerably mitigating lattice oxygen loss and inhibiting irreversible phase transformation. Meanwhile, interface shielding effects are also beneficial for mitigating parasitic electrode/electrolyte reactions, subsequent Co dissolution, and ultimately enable a robust electrode/electrolyte interface. As a result, the as‐designed CB‐Mg‐LCO cathode achieves a high capacity and excellent cycle stability with 94.6% capacity retention at an extremely high cut‐off voltage of 4.6 V. These findings provide new insights for cathode material modification methods, which serves to guide future cathode material design.

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