Lithium metal batteries have been considerably limited by the problems of uncontrolled dendritic lithium formation and the highly reactive nature of lithium with electrolytes. Herein, we have developed functional porous bilayer composite separators by simply blade-coating polyacrylamide-grafted graphene oxide molecular brushes onto commercial polypropylene separators. Our functional porous bilayer composite separators integrate the lithiophilic feature of hairy polyacrylamide chains and fast electrolyte diffusion pathways with the excellent mechanical strength of graphene oxide nanosheets and thus enable molecular-level homogeneous and fast lithium ionic flux on the surfaces of electrodes. As a result, dendrite-free uniform lithium deposition with a high Coulombic efficiency (98%) and ultralong-term reversible lithium plating/stripping (over 2600 h) at a high current density (2 mA cm−2) are achieved for lithium metal anodes. Remarkably, lithium metal anodes with an unprecedented stability of more than 1900 h cycling at an ultrahigh current density of 20 mA cm−2 are demonstrated.
Whether or not skeletal muscle mass (SMM) depletion, known as sarcopenia, has significant negative effects on the prognosis of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) is both new and controversial. In this meta-analysis, we aimed to determine the prognostic significance of sarcopenia in HNC. Methods: We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science, which contain trial registries and meeting proceedings, to identify related published or unpublished studies. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) to appraise the risk of bias of the included retrospective studies. Pooled hazard ratios (HR) and the I 2 statistic were estimated for the impact of sarcopenia on overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS). Results: We analyzed data from 11 studies involving 2,483 patients (39.4% on average of whom had sarcopenia). Based on the univariate analysis data, the sarcopenia group had significantly poorer OS compared to the non-sarcopenia group [HR = 1.97, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.71-2.26, I 2 = 0%]. In the cutoff value subgroup, group 1, defined as skeletal muscle index (SMI) of 38.5 cm 2 /m 2 for women and 52.4 cm 2 /m 2 for men (HR = 2.41, 95% CI: 1.72-3.38, I 2 = 0%), had much poorer OS. In the race subgroup, the results were consistent between the Asia (HR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.59-2.81) and non-Asia group (HR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.64-2.25). The sarcopenia group also had significantly poorer RFS (HR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.43-2.12, I 2 = 0%). Conclusions: Presence of pre-treatment sarcopenia has a significant negative impact on OS and RFS in HNC compared with its absence. Further well-conducted studies with detailed stratification are needed to complement our findings.
Renewable
resources (e.g., agricultural byproducts) are widely
used in the production of commercial activated carbon, but the activation
procedures still have serious drawbacks. Here we develop a green,
activation-free, top-down method to prepare high-surface-area carbon
materials from agricultural wastes through mechanochemistry. The facile
mechanochemical process can smash the monolithic agricultural wastes
into tiny microparticles with abundant surfaces and bulk defects,
which leads to the generation of well-developed hierarchical porous
structures after direct carbonization. The as-obtained carbon materials
simultaneously present high surface areas (1771 m2 g–1) and large pore volumes (1.88 cm3 g–1), and thus demonstrate excellent electrochemical
performances as the interlayer for lithium–sulfur batteries
and much superior creatinine adsorption capabilities to the medicinal
charcoal tablets. These results provide a new direction for fabricating
high-surface-area porous materials without any toxic reagents or complicated
activation procedures, and can spur promising electrochemical and
medical applications.
External confinement of concrete by means of FRP external wrapping can significantly enhance its strength and ductility and result in a large energy absorption capacity. This paper studies the behavior of concrete cylinders confined with hybrid FRP composites. A total of 35 cylindrical specimens with dimensions of 150mm diameter by 300mm length were tested, which included three plain concrete cylinders as control specimens, 12 concrete cylinders confined with one kind of FRP sheet and 20 specimens confined with hybrid FRP sheets. The experimental parameters include the different types of FRP sheets, the number of layers of FRP sheets and the different kinds of hybridization with two or three types of FRP composites. First, the characteristics of the stress—strain curves of hybrid FRP-confined concrete are described based on previous studies. Then, in order to describe the main mechanical features of hybrid FRP-confined concrete cylinders including stress and strain behavior, some simple models are suggested based on a number of empirical equations determined from mechanical tests. Finally, a multi-linear model is proposed to predict the axial stress—strain model of concrete cylinders confined with hybrid FRP composite. The proposed model closely agrees with the experimental results of the present study.
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