Aluminum (Al) exhibits excellent electrical conductivity, mechanical ductility, and good chemical compatibility with high-ionic-conductivity electrolytes. This makes it more suitable as an anode material for all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) compared to the overly reactive metallic lithium anode and the mechanically weak silicon anode. This study finds that the pre-lithiated Al anode demonstrates outstanding interfacial stability with the Li₆PS₅Cl (LPSCl) electrolyte, maintaining stable cycling for over 1200 h under conditions of deep charge–discharge. This paper combines the pre-lithiated Al anode with a high-nickel cathode, LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂, paired with the highly ionic conductive LPSCl electrolyte, to design an ASSLB with high energy density and stability. Using anode pre-lithiation techniques, along with dual-reinforcement technology between the electrolyte and the cathode active material, the ASSLB achieves stable cycling for 1000 cycles at a 0.2C rate, with a capacity retention rate of up to 82.2%. At a critical negative-to-positive ratio of 1.1, the battery’s specific energy reaches up to 375 Wh kg^-1, and it maintains over 85.9% of its capacity after 100 charge–discharge cycles. This work provides a new approach and an excellent solution for developing low-cost, high-stability all-solid-state batteries.

Hygroscopic hydrogel is a promising evaporative-cooling material for high-power passive daytime cooling with water self-regeneration. However, undesired solar and environmental heating makes it a challenge to maintain sub-ambient daytime cooling. While different strategies have been developed to mitigate heat gains, they inevitably sacrifice the evaporation and water regeneration due to highly coupled thermal and vapor transport. Here, an anisotropic synergistically performed insulation-radiation-evaporation (ASPIRE) cooler is developed by leveraging a dual-alignment structure both internal and external to the hydrogel for coordinated thermal and water transport. The ASPIRE cooler achieves an impressive average sub-ambient cooling temperature of ~ 8.2 °C and a remarkable peak cooling power of 311 W m^-2 under direct sunlight. Further examining the cooling mechanism reveals that the ASPIRE cooler reduces the solar and environmental heat gains without comprising the evaporation. Moreover, self-sustained multi-day cooling is possible with water self-regeneration at night under both clear and cloudy days. The synergistic design provides new insights toward high-power, sustainable, and all-weather passive cooling applications.

The paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry systematically summarizes the research progress and innovative strategies for improving the performance of NaₓTMO₂ cathode materials through interface regulation engineering in recent years. This work reveals the enhancement mechanisms of interface engineering, such as inorganic/organic coatings, heterogeneous interface phase designing, and surface doping. The phase evolution behaviors, ion-transfer kinetics, and electrochemical properties of NaₓTMO₂ resulted from interfacial modulations are concluded in depth.

Researchers at Xi'an Jiaotong University have made a significant advancement in the development of silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), introducing a novel binder that dramatically improves the stability and performance of silicon-based electrodes. This breakthrough addresses one of the most critical challenges in silicon anode technology: the unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer, which has long hindered the commercialization of high-capacity silicon anodes.

In summary, the proposed multidimensional metasurface offers a novel design approach for next-generation spectro-polarimetric modulation devices, holding great promise for the development of multifunctional, miniaturized, and integrated optical detection systems and their application in platforms such as drones, micro/nano satellites, and mobile electronic devices.

A study in Science China Life Sciences reveals how hybrid fish maintain fertility despite genomic divergence. By analyzing structural variations, gene expression, and chromatin accessibility in testicular cells, researchers identified conserved allelic and testis-specific genes, with rnf212b as a key regulator of reproductive traits.

The β cell proliferation capacity determines its mass and islet function, thus playing a pivotal role in maintaining glucose homeostasis. A study published in Science Bulletin Journal reported a pancreatic endogenous ribonuclease 4 (Rnase4), which governs β cell number and islet size under both physiological and pathological conditions. This factor is selectively expressed in β cells and acts in a cell-autonomous manner to drive β cell proliferation through the Axl-PI3K/Akt/FoxO1/Pdx1 signaling pathway. Absence of Rnase4 diminished β cell population, leading to systemic insulin deficiency; exogenous supplementation of this factor could rescue β cell loss and islet dysfunction induced by genetic, chemical, or inflammatory challenges. The findings highlight a key β-cell self-derived factor in regulating its proliferation and body glucose metabolism.

This study establishes a significant enhancement in the spin coherence properties of shallow nitrogen-vacancy centers through graphene-diamond heterostructure integration, proposing a novel methodology to improve sensitivity in solid-state quantum sensing platforms.