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The low Coulombic efficiency during cycling hinders the application of Cobalt-free lithium-rich materials in lithium-ion batteries. Here we demonstrated that the dissolution of iron, rather than traditionally acknowledged manganese, is mainly responsible for the low Coulombic efficiency of the iron-substituted cobalt-free lithium-rich material. Besides, we presented an approach to inhibit the dissolution of transition metal ions by using concentrated electrolytes. We found that the cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) layer formed in the concentrated electrolyte is a uniform and robust LiF-rich CEI, which is a sharp contrast with the uneven and fragile organic-rich CEI formed in the dilute electrolyte. The LiF-rich CEI not only effectively inhibits the dissolution of TMs but also stabilizes the cathode structure. The Coulombic efficiency, cycling stability, rate performance, and safety of the Fe-substituted cobalt-free lithium-rich cathode material in the concentrated electrolyte have been improved tremendously. The transition metal dissolution of cathode materials during cycling limits battery performances and lifetimes. Here, authors inhibit metal dissolution by using highly concentrated electrolytes that induce ultra-thin cathode electrolyte interphase formation on cathode surfaces during cycling.

Topological textures have fascinated people in different areas of physics and technologies. However, the observations are limited in magnetic and solid-state ferroelectric systems. Ferroelectric nematic is the first liquid-state ferroelectric that would carry many possibilities of spatially-distributed polarization fields. Contrary to traditional magnetic or crystalline systems, anisotropic liquid crystal interactions can compete with the polarization counterparts, thereby setting a challenge in understating their interplays and the resultant topologies. Here, we discover chiral polarization meron-like structures, which appear during the emergence and growth of quasi-2D ferroelectric nematic domains. The chirality can emerge spontaneously in polar textures and can be additionally biased by introducing chiral dopants. Such micrometre-scale polarization textures are the modified electric variants of the magnetic merons. Both experimental and an extended mean-field modelling reveal that the polarization strength plays a dedicated role in determining polarization topology, providing a guide for exploring diverse polar textures in strongly-polarized liquid crystals. Though magnetic and electric states are closely related, many magnetic states cannot find their electric counterparts. Here, the authors report electric variants of merons in thin films of the emerging liquid-matter state, i.e., ferroelectric nematic.

Artificial muscle materials promise incredible applications in actuators, robotics and medical apparatus, yet the ability to mimic the full characteristics of skeletal muscles into synthetic materials remains a huge challenge. Herein, inspired by the dynamic sacrificial bonds in biomaterials and the self-strengthening of skeletal muscles by physical exercise, high performance artificial muscle material is prepared by rearrangement of sacrificial coordination bonds in the polyolefin elastomer via a repetitive mechanical training process. Biomass lignin is incorporated as a green reinforcer for the construction of interfacial coordination bonds. The prepared artificial muscle material exhibits high actuation strain (>40%), high actuation stress (1.5 MPa) which can lift more than 10,000 times its own weight with 30% strain, characteristics of excellent self-strengthening by mechanical training, strain-adaptive stiffening, and heat/electric programmable actuation performance. In this work, we show a facile strategy for the fabrication of intelligent materials using easily available raw materials. Artificial muscles have a wide range of applications yet truly mimetic designs remain a challenge. Here, the authors use dynamic sacrificial bonds which are rearranged via a mechanical training process to optimise the characteristics of self-strengthening, strain-adaptive stiffening and actuation.

Lithium metal anodes offer high theoretical capacities (3,860 milliampere-hours per gram) 1 , but rechargeable batteries built with such anodes suffer from dendrite growth and low Coulombic efficiency (the ratio of charge output to charge input), preventing their commercial adoption 2 , 3 . The formation of inactive (‘dead’) lithium— which consists of both (electro)chemically formed Li + compounds in the solid electrolyte interphase and electrically isolated unreacted metallic Li 0 (refs 4 , 5 )—causes capacity loss and safety hazards. Quantitatively distinguishing between Li + in components of the solid electrolyte interphase and unreacted metallic Li 0 has not been possible, owing to the lack of effective diagnostic tools. Optical microscopy 6 , in situ environmental transmission electron microscopy 7 , 8 , X-ray microtomography 9 and magnetic resonance imaging 10 provide a morphological perspective with little chemical information. Nuclear magnetic resonance 11 , X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy 12 and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy 13 , 14 can distinguish between Li + in the solid electrolyte interphase and metallic Li 0 , but their detection ranges are limited to surfaces or local regions. Here we establish the analytical method of titration gas chromatography to quantify the contribution of unreacted metallic Li 0 to the total amount of inactive lithium. We identify the unreacted metallic Li 0 , not the (electro)chemically formed Li + in the solid electrolyte interphase, as the dominant source of inactive lithium and capacity loss. By coupling the unreacted metallic Li 0 content to observations of its local microstructure and nanostructure by cryogenic electron microscopy (both scanning and transmission), we also establish the formation mechanism of inactive lithium in different types of electrolytes and determine the underlying cause of low Coulombic efficiency in plating and stripping (the charge and discharge processes, respectively, in a full cell) of lithium metal anodes. We propose strategies for making lithium plating and stripping more efficient so that lithium metal anodes can be used for next-generation high-energy batteries. Titration gas chromatography is developed as an analytical method of distinguishing between lithium metal and lithium compounds within a cycled battery and assessing the amount of unreacted metallic lithium available.

The classical Pancharatnam-Berry phase, a variant of the geometric phase, arises purely from the modulation of the polarization state of a light beam. Due to its dependence on polarization changes, it cannot be effectively utilized for wavefront shaping in systems that require maintaining a constant (co-polarized) polarization state. Here, we present a novel topologically protected phase modulation mechanism capable of achieving anti-symmetric full 2π phase shifts with near-unity efficiency for two orthogonal co-polarized channels. Compatible with -but distinct from- the dynamic phase, this approach exploits phase circulation around a hidden singularity on the surface of the Poincaré sphere. We validate this concept in the microwave regime through the implementation of multi-layer chiral metasurfaces. This new phase modulation mechanism expands the design toolbox of flat optics for light modulation beyond conventional techniques. Arising from singularity on the surface of Poincaré sphere, topology-protected phase for co-polarized light enables 2π phase modulation, which complements the classical cross-polarized Pancharatnam-Berry phase and expands the versatility of flat optics.

Bioelectronics for modulating the nervous system have shown promise in treating neurological diseases 1 – 3 . However, their fixed dimensions cannot accommodate rapid tissue growth 4 , 5 and may impair development 6 . For infants, children and adolescents, once implanted devices are outgrown, additional surgeries are often needed for device replacement, leading to repeated interventions and complications 6 – 8 . Here, we address this limitation with morphing electronics, which adapt to in vivo nerve tissue growth with minimal mechanical constraint. We design and fabricate multilayered morphing electronics, consisting of viscoplastic electrodes and a strain sensor that eliminate the stress at the interface between the electronics and growing tissue. The ability of morphing electronics to self-heal during implantation surgery allows a reconfigurable and seamless neural interface. During the fastest growth period in rats, morphing electronics caused minimal damage to the rat nerve, which grows 2.4-fold in diameter, and allowed chronic electrical stimulation and monitoring for 2 months without disruption of functional behavior. Morphing electronics offers a path toward growth-adaptive pediatric electronic medicine. Viscoplastic electronic devices adapt as nerves enlarge in growing animals.

Advances in bioinspired design principles and nanomaterials have led to tremendous progress in autonomously moving synthetic nano/micromotors with diverse functionalities in different environments. However, a significant gap remains in moving nano/micromotors from test tubes to living organisms for treating diseases with high efficacy. Here we present the first, to our knowledge, in vivo therapeutic micromotors application for active drug delivery to treat gastric bacterial infection in a mouse model using clarithromycin as a model antibiotic and Helicobacter pylori infection as a model disease. The propulsion of drug-loaded magnesium micromotors in gastric media enables effective antibiotic delivery, leading to significant bacteria burden reduction in the mouse stomach compared with passive drug carriers, with no apparent toxicity. Moreover, while the drug-loaded micromotors reach similar therapeutic efficacy as the positive control of free drug plus proton pump inhibitor, the micromotors can function without proton pump inhibitors because of their built-in proton depletion function associated with their locomotion. Nano- and micromotors have been demonstrated in vitro for a range of applications. Here the authors demonstrate the in-vivo therapeutic use of micromotors to treat H. pylori infection.

Electrophysiological mapping of chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) at high throughput and high resolution is critical for understanding its underlying mechanism and guiding definitive treatment such as cardiac ablation, but current electrophysiological tools are limited by either low spatial resolution or electromechanical uncoupling of the beating heart. To overcome this limitation, we herein introduce a scalable method for fabricating a tissue-like, high-density, fully elastic electrode (elastrode) array capable of achieving real-time, stable, cellular level-resolution electrophysiological mapping in vivo. Testing with acute rabbit and porcine models, the device is proven to have robust and intimate tissue coupling while maintaining its chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties during the cardiac cycle. The elastrode array records epicardial atrial signals with comparable efficacy to currently available endocardial-mapping techniques but with 2 times higher atrial-to-ventricular signal ratio and >100 times higher spatial resolution and can reliably identify electrical local heterogeneity within an area of simultaneously identified rotor-like electrical patterns in a porcine model of chronic AF.

For colorectal cancer patients, traditional biomarker deficient mismatch repair/microsatellite instability (dMMR/MSI) is an accurate predictor of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Recent years, researchers considered tumor mutation burden (TMB) as another predictive biomarker which means the number of nonsynonymous mutations in cancer cells. Several studies have proven that TMB can evaluate the efficacy of ICI therapy in diverse types of cancer, especially in non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma. However, studies on the association between TMB and the response to ICI therapy in colorectal cancer alone are still lacking. In this study, we aim to verify the effect of TMB as a biomarker in predicting the efficacy of ICIs in colorectal cancer. We searched the PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE databases up to May 1, 2021 and screened studies for eligibility. Thirteen studies published from 2015 to 2021 with 5062 patients were included finally. We extracted and calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) of overall survival (OS) and objective response rates (ORRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Pooled HR and OR were evaluated to compare OS and ORR between TMB-high and TMB-low groups in colorectal cancer patients. Meanwhile, we assessed heterogeneity with the statistic and p-values and performed publication bias assessments, sensitivity analyses, and subgroup analyses to search the cause of heterogeneity. The TMB-high patient group had a longer OS than the TMB-low patient group (HR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.51, 0.92, p = 0.013) among colorectal cancer patients receiving ICIs. In addition, the TMB-high patient group was superior in terms of ORR (OR = 19.25, 95% CI: 10.06, 36.82, p < 0.001) compared to the TMB-low patient group. In conclusion, this meta-analysis revealed that TMB can be used as a potential predictive biomarker of colorectal cancer patients receiving ICI therapy. Nevertheless, this finding is not stable enough. Therefore, many more randomized controlled trials are needed to prove that TMB is reliable enough to be used clinically to predict the efficacy of immunotherapy in colorectal cancer. And the most relevant biomarker remains to be determined when TMB high overlaps with other biomarkers like MSI and TILs.

This paper proposes a novel Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based remote sensing method for simulating Radar Doppler Map (RDM) features through joint electromagnetic scattering modeling and signal processing, enabling characteristic parameter extraction for both point and ship targets in multi-satellite scenarios. Simulations demonstrate that the B3I signal achieves a significantly enhanced range resolution (tens of meters) compared to the B1I signal (hundreds of meters), attributable to its wider bandwidth. Furthermore, we introduce an Unscented Particle Filter (UPF) algorithm for dynamic target tracking and state estimation. Experimental results show that four-satellite configurations outperform three-satellite setups, achieving <10 m position error for uniform motion and <18 m for maneuvering targets, with velocity errors within ±2 m/s using four satellites. The joint detection framework for multi-satellite, multi-target scenarios demonstrates an improved detection accuracy and robust localization performance.