Lithium-sulfur batteries have become an appealing candidate for next-generation energy-storage technologies because of their low cost and high energy density. However, one of their major practical problems is the high solubility of long-chain lithium polysulfides and their infamous shuttle effect, which causes low Coulombic efficiency and sulfur loss. Here, we introduced a concept involving the dithiothreitol (DTT) assisted scission of polysulfides into lithium-sulfur system. Our designed porous carbon nanotube/S cathode coupling with a lightweight graphene/DTT interlayer (PCNTs-S@Gra/DTT) exhibited ultrahigh cycle-ability even at 5 C over 1100 cycles, with a capacity degradation rate of 0.036% per cycle. Additionally, the PCNTs-S@Gra/DTT electrode with a 3.51 mg cm sulfur mass loading delivered a high initial areal capacity of 5.29 mAh cm (1509 mAh g) at current density of 0.58 mA cm, and the reversible areal capacity of the cell was maintained at 3.45 mAh cm (984 mAh g) over 200 cycles at a higher current density of 1.17 mA cm. Employing this molecule scission principle offers a promising avenue to achieve high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

Lithium–sulfur batteries suffer from poor cycling stability at high areal sulfur loadings (ASLs) mainly because of the infamous shuttle problem and the increasing diffusion distance for ions to diffuse along the vertical direction of the cathode plane. Here, a carbon nanotube (CNT)/graphene (Gra)‐S‐Al3Ni2 cathode with 3D network structure is designed and prepared. The 3D network configuration and the Al in the Al3Ni2 provide an efficient channel for fast electron and ion transfer in the three dimensions, especially along the vertical direction of the cathode. The introduction of Ni in the Al3Ni2 is able to suppress the shuttle effect via accelerating reaction kinetics of lithium polysulfide species conversion reactions. The CNT/Gra‐S‐Al3Ni2 cathode exhibits ultrahigh cycle‐ability at 1 C over 800 cycles, with a capacity degradation rate of 0.055% per cycle. Additionally, having high ASLs of 3.3 mg cm−2, the electrode delivers a high reversible areal capacity of 2.05 mA h cm−2 (622 mA h g−1) over 200 cycles at a higher current density of 2.76 mA cm−2 with high capacity retention of 85.9%. The outstanding discharge performance indicates that the design offers a promising avenue to develop long‐life cycle and high‐sulfur‐loading Li–S batteries.

On the basis of salinity and organic geochemical analyses of mudstones, this paper analyzed the relationship between salinity and sedimentary facies of different strata; studied influences of salinity on organic matter richness, types, and thermal maturities of source rocks; and built the organic enrichment accumulation model for the Paleogene and Neogene saline lakes of the western Qaidam Basin. In the western Qaidam Basin, saline lake depocenters and high salinity areas migrated eastward, and chloride ion (Cl − ) concentration of source rocks showed an increasing trend from the Paleocene to Pliocene. The relationship between organic matter content and salinity of the Paleocene and Pliocene source rocks shows a three-interval model: both TOC (total organic carbon) content and chloroform bitumen content have low values at the low salinity stage, first increase to the peak and then decrease to the lowest values at the medium salinity stage, and sustain the lowest values at the super saline stage because of the interaction between organic productivity and reduction−oxidation in the saline lake of the western Qaidam Basin. The relationship between organic matter type and salinity of these source rocks suggests that the kerogen increasingly corresponds to a sapropelic and planktonic origin with increasing salinity. The organic matter enrichment model of the Paleogene and Neogene saline lakes of the western Qaidam Basin showed that saline lakes had high productivity and reducing conditions favorable for organic matter accumulation and preservation at their middle evolution stage. Through improving their apparent activation energy, salinity slowed down thermal evolution of source rocks, making the Paleogene and Neogene source rocks at low maturity to the immature stage in the western Qaidam Basin.

In this paper, we theoretically and numerically demonstrate a polarization-controlled and symmetry-dependent multiple plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) in a graphene-based metasurface. The unit cell of metasurface is composed of two reversely placed U-shaped graphene nanostructures and a rectangular graphene ring stacking on a dielectric substrate. By adjusting the polarization of incident light, the number of transparency windows can be actively modulated between 1 and 2 when the nanostructure keeps a geometrical symmetry with respect to the x-axis. Especially, when the rectangular graphene ring has a displacement along the y-direction, the number of transparency windows can be arbitrarily switched between 2 and 3. The operation mechanism behind the phenomena can be attributed to the near-field coupling and electromagnetic interaction between the bright modes excited in the unit of graphene resonators. Moreover, the electromagnetic simulations obtained by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method agree well with the theoretical results based on the coupled modes theory (CMT). In addition, as applications of the designed nanostructure, we also study the modulation degrees of amplitude, insertion loss and group index of transmission spectra for different Fermi energies, which demonstrates an excellent synchronous switch functionality and slow light effect at multiple frequencies. Our designed metasurface may have potential applications in mid-infrared optoelectronic devices, such as optical switches, modulators, and slow-light devices, etc.

Na0.9Mg0.45Ti3.55O8 single crystal nanosheets with dominant {0 0 1} facets exhibit strong photodegradation ability for methylene blue under UV-visible light.