The separator, as an important inner part of the sodium-ion battery (SIB), has a significant impact on the electrochemical performance and security of the battery. However, conventional polyolefin separators are inapplicable for SIBs due to their poor wettability to liquid electrolytes and unsatisfactory heat resistance. To address these problems, a novel polyethylene (PE)-hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC)-TiO 2 composite separator modified on the PE matrix is proposed and successfully prepared by a multistep synthesis procedure of HEC coating and TiO 2 in situ self-growth, while almost maintaining the initial separator thickness. Compared with conventional PE separators, this composite separator possesses remarkable wettability which benefits from the introduction of a polar HEC-TiO 2 -incorporated coating. Besides, thanks to a significant improvement in wettability, the separator presents high electrolyte uptake of up to 186.5% and an extraordinary ionic conductivity of 0.342 mS cm À1 . As expected, a Na|Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 battery with the PE-HEC-TiO 2 separator exhibits a reversible capacity of 99.0 mAh g À1 and a capacity retention of 94.8% after 1000 cycles at 5 C with a steady Coulombic efficiency of nearly 100%. These brilliant performances convincingly make it a promising separator for advanced SIBs with high reversibility, high capacity, and long life.

The uncontrollable growth of lithium (Li) dendrites impedes the development of practical applications for the long-awaited lithium metal batteries. In this work, a strategy is proposed to protect the Li anode with a composite separator of in situ formed SnO2 and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) on the polyethylene (PE) substrate. Based on the use of SnO2/HPMC@PE separator, the Li||Li cell has an ultralong cycle life of more than 2000 h and ultralow-voltage hysteresis of 11.1 mV, whereas the cell with PE separator only has the cycle life of 800 h and the voltage hysteresis of up to 222.9 mV. Moreover, Li||LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 (NCM622) has an initial discharge capacity of 142.3 mAh g–1 and a capacity retention of 77.9% after 250 cycles at 1 C, which are higher than those of PE (140.6 mAh g–1 with retention of 59.5%). All of the enhanced performance can be ascribed to a regulable SEI film that can be formed on the Li foil in direct contact with the SnO2 layer, which decreases the Li nucleation overpotential and facilitates ultimately uniform Li deposition. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using a modified separator to achieve stable Li metal batteries.

Bimetallic oxide SrFe12O19/AB composite separator regulates lithium polysulfides to realize sustainable lithium-sulfur batteries.

Purpose Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most frequently encountered infectious diseases worldwide. Few studies have explored the microbial composition of the lower respiratory tract (LRT) and host metabolites of CAP. We analyzed the microbial composition of the LRT and levels of host metabolites to explore new biomarkers for CAP. Patients and Methods Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected from 28 CAP patients and 20 healthy individuals. Following centrifugation, BALF pellets were used for amplicon sequencing of a variable region of the bacterial 16S rDNA gene to characterize the microbial composition. Non-targeted metabolomics was used to detect host’s metabolites in the supernatant. Results Compared with healthy individuals, the bacterial alpha diversity in the LRT of CAP patients was significantly lower in CAP patients (p<0.05). On the bacterial genus level, over 20 genera were detected with lower relative abundance (p<0.05), while the relative abundance of Ruminiclostridium -6 was significantly higher in CAP patients. The levels of the host metabolites dimethyldisulfide, choline, pyrimidine, oleic acid and N-acetyl-neuraminic acid were all increased in BALF of CAP patients (p<0.05), while concentrations of lysophosphatidylcholines (LPC (12:0/0:0)) and phosphatidic acid (PA (20:4/2:0)) were decreased (p<0.05). Furthermore, the relative abundance of Parvimonas, Treponema -2, Moraxella, Aggregatibacter, Filifactor, Fusobacterium, Lautropia and Neisseria negatively correlated with concentrations of oleic acid (p<0.05). A negative correlation between the relative abundance of Treponema -2, Moraxella, Filifactor, Fusobacterium and dimethyldisulfide concentrations was also observed (p<0.05). In contrast, the relative abundance of Treponema -2, Moraxella, Filifactor , and Fusobacterium was found to be positively associated with concentrations of LPC (12:0/0:0) and PA (20:4/2:0) (p<0.05). Conclusion The composition of the LRT microbiome differed between healthy individuals and CAP patients. We propose that some respiratory microbial components and host metabolites are potentially novel diagnostic markers of CAP.

By using Ni‐rich material (LiNixCoyMnzO2, x+y+z=1) as cathode electrode, the energy density of lithium‐ion batteries can be increased. However, the electrode/electrolyte interface instability of Ni‐rich cathode at high voltage will adversely affect the cycle performance and limit its practical application. In this paper, propanediol cyclic sulfate (PCS) is proposed as a functional additive to improve the cycling stability of LiNi0.6Co0.1Mn0.3O2/graphite battery. After adding 3.0 wt.% PCS to the baseline electrolyte, the capacity retention of the batteries improves from 9.6 % to 86.5 % after 150 cycles at the voltages of 3.0–4.5 V. Based on the theoretical calculation and experimental result, the main reason for the improvement of electrochemical performance is that the PCS forms a highly stable sulfur‐containing compound interface layer (SEI/CEI) on the electrode surface, which can not only inhibit electrolyte decomposition and interface impedance increase, but also reduce transition metal dissolution. This work has given some ideas for the practical utilization of high‐voltage LiNi0.6Co0.1Mn0.3O2/graphite pouch‐cells.