National Science Review最新文献

All-solid-state lithium (Li) metal batteries (ASLMBs), particularly with inorganic solid electrolytes, possess both high energy density and high safety. However, their practical application is still being severely impeded by Li dendrite formation as a fundamental but unclear issue. Here, we reveal that the anisotropic exfoliation of polycrystal Li metal due to different energies required for Li atom stripping from various Li crystal planes leads to the formation of voids upon cycling, which is the intrinsic cause for the formation of Li dendrites and interfacial cracks. We thereafter precisely tune the polycrystal Li metal to <110>-oriented single-crystal Li metal using a lattice-matching template of Li₂Ga (131) interface. During the stripping process of <110>-oriented single-crystal Li, the unstripped surface Li atoms at the Li (110) plane present lower stripping energy than those of the fresh layers, which ensures layer-by-layer Li stripping/plating and avoids Li void formation to fundamentally suppress the Li dendrite generation during long cycling. The ASLMBs using <110>-oriented single-crystal Li have ultralong stability of over 10 000 cycles at 25°C. Our results establish that regulating the crystal orientation of Li metal is a basic and practical solution for solving the dendrite formation problem and pushing forward the final real applications of ASLMBs.

Simultaneously removing ethane (C₂H₆) and acetylene (C₂H₂) from ethylene (C₂H₄) streams is advantageous for industrial production yet remains challenging for physisorbents. Herein, we report a microporous metal-organic framework (MOF), NKM-47, that achieves one-step C₂H₄ purification. NKM-47 was designed via a supramolecular linker-directed assembly approach and features a 'trap-and-diffusion' porous architecture composed of orthogonally arranged molecular pockets and 1D channels. The N/O-rich molecular pockets selectively capture the smallest and largest C₂ species (C₂H₂ and C₂H₆) while the channels permit preferential diffusion of medium-sized C₂H₄. NKM-47 enables one-step production of polymer-grade C₂H₄ (99.99% purity) from both binary and ternary C₂ gas mixtures under ambient conditions. This study presents the first example of a trap-and-diffusion mechanism for C₂ hydrocarbon separation in MOFs, enabling the single-step purification of C₂H₄ through the selective diffusion of a species with intermediate physicochemical properties.

The 2025 chikungunya fever outbreak in Foshan, China rapidly spread from a previously non-endemic area, raising significant public health concerns. This event underscores the need to understand the factors driving viral transmission, host responses and the influence of local environmental changes. The primary objectives of this study were to: (i) characterize the clinical manifestations of chikungunya patients at the initial stage of the outbreak to facilitate concise diagnosis and treatment; (ii) determine the viral genetic factors contributing to the outbreak's rapid spread; and (iii) investigate the influence of local environmental and climatic conditions on vector mosquito reproduction. We quickly collected and analyzed clinical data from 134 patients hospitalized for the purpose of quarantine at the beginning of the outbreak. While fever, arthralgia and rash are the typical symptom triad of chikungunya fever, we found that they did not always present simultaneously at onset. Arthralgia was the most common presenting symptom. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the viral strains were highly homologous to those from the Réunion outbreak, suggesting an imported origin. Furthermore, we identified the presence of E1-A226V, E2-I211T and E2-L210Q mutations, which have been previously associated with enhanced transmission by Aedes albopictus. Local climatic conditions during the outbreak period were also found to be favorable for mosquito reproduction. In conclusion, we propose that the Foshan outbreak resulted from a combination of virus importation, a largely immunologically naïve population and a climate conducive to mosquito proliferation. Additionally, our findings suggest that clinicians should maintain vigilance for atypical symptoms to prevent misdiagnosis and missed cases.

Developing non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) that combine high device efficiency with superior stability remains a significant challenge. Based on M-series acceptors featuring an acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A)-type framework, we report two dimerized NFAs (DM-8F and DM-8Cl) containing different halogen atoms in their terminal groups. Compared to the small-molecule acceptor M68, both dimerized acceptors exhibit increased glass transition temperatures and enlarged dielectric constants. The choice of halogen atoms in the terminal groups significantly affects their π-π-packing distances, exciton diffusion lengths, and ultimately, photovoltaic performance. Owing to enhanced charge transport, reduced exciton binding energy, and extended exciton diffusion length, DM-8F achieves an efficiency of 19.39% (certified at 19.20%) in small-area polymer solar cells (PSCs) and 15.72% in minimodules with an effective area of 11.09 cm². These efficiencies are the highest reported to date among all A-D-A-type NFAs. Moreover, DM-8F-based devices exhibit significantly improved thermal and photostability compared to those based on M68.

An overview of fully automated processor chip design, including its research motivations, three key challenges, and the overall framework with core components developed to address these challenges.

The operational stability of lithium-ion batteries under extreme cryogenic conditions remains fundamentally constrained by solvation structure heterogeneity in conventional electrolytes, where imbalanced coordination fields between high- and low-polarity solvents exacerbate desolvation barriers and interfacial ion transport resistance. Herein, this study introduces a polarity-gradient engineering (PGE) paradigm that systematically resolves solvent polarity disparity (ΔD) through atomic-scale electronic modulation. By substituting carbon with sulfur in carbonate skeletons, an 83% reduction in dielectric heterogeneity is reached (Δε = 17.1 vs. 86.6 in carbonates), enabling balanced Li⁺ coordination among cyclic/linear sulfites and anions. This homogenized solvation feature significantly accelerates desolvation kinetics (34.97 kJ·mol⁻¹ activation energy vs. 79.1 kJ·mol⁻¹ in carbonates) and promotes the formation of LiF-rich interphase. Benefiting from these, the optimized electrolyte demonstrates liquid operation down to -110°C with 1 mS·cm⁻¹ at -80°C, thus enabling 450 Wh·kg^-1 LiCoO₂/Li pouch cells to perform stable cycling at -20°C with 81% capacity retention over 400 cycles, with 73% of room-temperature capacity at -60°C. The homogeneous solvation structure intrinsically couples thermodynamic stability with accelerated interfacial kinetics, revealing a paradigm for extreme-condition energy storage. This study pioneers a universal design framework that decouples the trade-off between desolvation barriers and ion mobility, delivering an atomic-scale blueprint for cryogenic batteries.

Polymer backbone modification (PBM) is an emerging strategy uniquely suited to tuning the intrinsic properties of polymers. However, its utilization in tuning the degradability of polymers is underexplored, and there is no viable route to backbone-editable polyesters and polycarbonates with tunable lifecycles. In this work, we synthesized a series of backbone-editable polyesters and polycarbonate via ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of 2-vinyloxirane (VIO) with anhydrides/CO₂. These polymers feature the specific structure necessary for [3,3]-sigmatropic oxo-rearrangements under a Pd catalyst, in which the terminal olefins can undergo rearrangement to trans internal ones and facilitate backbone modification. After optimizing the rearrangement conditions, we were able to rearrange the polyesters in satisfactory yields (55.2%-72.3%) without affecting the molecular weight. Notably, compared with the original polymers, the rearranged ones exhibit lower hydroboration-oxidation reactivity and glass transition temperature, as well as much faster thermal and hydrolytic degradation profiles, providing a new strategy for the design of polymers with tunable properties and lifecycles.

The DPANN superphylum is a deep-branching radiation of archaea with small cell and genome sizes. Most DPANN lineages are predicted or validated to be host-dependent. However, certain lineages have substantial biosynthetic capacities and are potentially less dependent on hosts, or even free-living. Here, we reconstructed 163 Micrarchaeota genomes, comprising 48 assigned to previously undescribed orders and 115 affiliated with known orders. Investigation of their genetic repertoire revealed substantial metabolic capacity in Norongarragalinales-, Anstonellales- and the newly proposed Wunengiarchaeales-associated lineages, including complete or near-complete glycolysis and de novo biosynthetic pathways for nucleotides, amino acids, cofactors and cell envelopes. We classified genes related to the central metabolism but which are uncommon in DPANN archaea as putative free-living associated genes (pFLAGs). The extensive presence of pFLAGs in Norongarragalinales suggests a potential host-independent lifestyle. Reconstruction of evolutionary history revealed that these pFLAGs were not ancestral within the DPANN superphylum. Instead, we suggest that less-host-dependent organisms evolved from symbionts through the gradual acquisition of pFLAGs through horizontal gene transfer, whereas other Micrarchaeota lineages with streamlined genomes experienced reductive evolution due to thermal adaptation. Our analyses demonstrate that host dependency is not always an evolutionary dead end, but can be reversed through the acquisition of new metabolic capabilities by horizontal transfer.

There is usually a mutual trade-off between thermodynamic stability, kinetic activity and external field responsiveness in polymer chemistry. Here, we report a Cu(II)-coordinated benzoquinone dioxime-carbamate unit (Cu-BQDU) that resolves this challenge in polymers. Through an inductive effect, coordination bonds polarize hydrogen bonds, enhancing their strength to the highest reported value for carbamate-carbamate segments in hydrogen bonding (∼5.6 kcal/mol). The resulting polymer exhibits exceptional thermodynamic stability and achieves a record-high toughness of 236.0 MJ/m³ among intrinsic photothermal elastomers. Additionally, the coordination bond extends the molecular conjugation length, optimizing the geometric alignment of π-π interactions to enhance photothermal conversion efficiency. This effect synergizes with Cu(II)-catalysed carbamate dynamics, boosting near-infrared-light-driven photothermal healing efficiency by 92.9%. This work provides multiple new molecular design principles of polymers.