Authenticity green coffee bean species and geographical origin using near-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics

To prevent the adulteration of agricultural resources and provide a solution to enhance the green coffee bean supply chain, authentication using the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique was investigated. Partial least square with discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) models combined with various preprocessing methods were built from NIR spectra of 153 Vietnamese green coffee samples. The model combined with the standard normal variate and the first order of derivative yielded excellent performance in predicting coffee species with the error cross-validation of 0.0261. PLS-DA model of mean centre and first-order derivative spectra also yielded good performance in verifying geographical indication of green coffee with the error of 0.0656. By contrast, the predicting abilities of post-harvest methods were poor. The overall results showed a high potential of the NIRS in online authentication practices.     

Configurational Isomers Induced Significant Difference in All-Polymer Solar Cells

The design of polymer acceptors plays an essential role in the performance of all-polymer solar cells. Recently, the strategy of polymerized small molecules has achieved great success, but most polymers are synthesized from the mixed monomers, which seriously affects batch-to-batch reproducibility. Here, a method to separate γ-Br-IC or δ-Br-IC in gram scale and apply the strategy of monomer configurational control in which two isomeric polymeric acceptors (PBTIC-γ-2F2T and PBTIC-δ-2F2T) are produced is reported. As a comparison, PBTIC-m-2F2T from the mixed monomers is also synthesized. The γ-position based polymer (PBTIC-γ-2F2T) shows good solubility and achieves the best power conversion efficiency of 14.34% with a high open-circuit voltage of 0.95 V when blended with PM6, which is among the highest values recorded to date, while the δ-position based isomer (PBTIC-δ-2F2T) is insoluble and cannot be processed after parallel polymerization. The mixed-isomers based polymer, PBTIC-m-2F2T, shows better processing capability but has a low efficiency of 3.26%. Further investigation shows that precise control of configuration helps to improve the regularity of the polymer chain and reduce the π–π stacking distance. These results demonstrate that the configurational control affords a promising strategy to achieve high-performance polymer acceptors.     

Phase composition,microstructure and thermophysical properties of the Srx(Zr0.9Y0.05Yb0.05)O1.95+x ceramics

Sr_x(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_1.95+x (x=1.0, 0.9, 0.8, 0.7) ceramics were prepared by solid state reaction sintering. The sintered Sr_1.0(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_2.95 is a single-phase solid solution while the sintered Sr_x(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_1.95+x (x=0.9?0.7) are composites, and a significant grain growth inhibition is observed in the sintered Sr_x(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_1.95+x (x=1.0, 0.9). Rare-earth elements distribution in the bulk materials indicates that Yb and Y preferentially substitute Zr-sites in SrZrO₃, and the highest solubility of RE₂O₃ in pure SrZrO₃ is ～0.8 mol%. The sintered Sr_x(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_1.95+x have high thermal expansion coefficients up to ～11.0×10^?6 K^-1 (1200°C). Sr_0.8(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_2.75 has the lowest thermal conductivity of 1.38 W·m^-1·K^-1 at 800°C. Sr_x(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_1.95+x (x=1.0, 0.9, 0.8) show no phase transition from 600 to 1400°C, whereas Sr_x(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_1.95+x (x=0.9, 0.8) have excellent high-temperature phase stability over the whole investigated temperature range. Therefore, Sr_x(Zr_0.9Y_0.05Yb_0.05)O_1.95+x (x=1.0, 0.9, 0.8) are considered as promising TBCs materials that might be operated at higher temperatures compared to YSZ.     

Non-Halogenated-Solvent Processed and Additive-Free Tandem Organic Solar Cell with Efficiency Reaching 16.67%

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have recently reached a remarkably high efficiency and become a promising technology for commercial application. However, OSCs with top efficiency are mostly processed by halogenated solvents and with additives that are not environmentally friendly, which hinders large-scale manufacture. In this study, high-performance tandem OSCs, based on polymer donors and two small-molecule acceptors with different bandgaps, are fabricated by solution processing with non-halogenated solvents without additive. Importantly, the two active layers developed from non-halogenated solvents show better phase segregation and charge transport properties, leading to superior performance than halogenated ones. As a result, a tandem OSC with high efficiency of up to 16.67% is obtained, showing unique advantages in future massive production.     

Revealing the relationships between alloy structure,composition and plastic deformation in a ternary alloy system by a combinatorial approach

A high-throughput approach based on magnetron co-sputtering of alloy libraries is employed to inves-tigate mechanical properties of crystalline and amorphous alloys in a ternary palladium(Pd)-tungsten(W)-silicon(Si)system with the aim to reveal the difference in plastic deformation response and extract the relevant structure-property relationships of the alloys in the system.It was found that in contrast to crystalline alloys,the amorphous ones,i.e.,metallic glasses,exhibited a much smaller fluctuation range in the plasticity parameters(Er2/H and Wp/Wt),indicating a significant difference in the plastic deformation mechanism controlling the mechanical properties for the respective alloys.We propose that the inho-mogeneous deformation of amorphous alloys localized in thin shear bands is responsible for the weaker compositional dependence of both plasticity parameters,while dislocation gliding in crystalline materials is significantly more dependent on the exact structure,thus resulting in a larger scattering range.Based on the representative efficient cluster packing model,a set of composition-dependent atomic structural models is proposed to figure out the structure-property relationships of amorphous alloys in Pd-W-Si alloy system.     

TiO2/MXene-Assisted LDI-MS for Urine Metabolic Profiling in Urinary Disease

Cancer remains an intractable medical problem. Rapid diagnosis and identification of cancer are critical to differentiate it from nonmalignant diseases. High-throughput biofluid metabolic analysis has potential for cancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, the present metabolite analysis method does not meet the demand for high-throughput screening of diseases. Herein, a high-throughput, cost-effective, and noninvasive urine metabolic profiling method based on TiO₂/MXene-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) is presented for the efficient screening of bladder cancer (BC) and nonmalignant urinary disease. Combined with machine learning, TiO₂/MXene-assisted LDI-MS enables high diagnostic accuracy (96.8%) for the classification of patient groups (including 47 BC and 46 ureteral calculus (UC) patients) from healthy controls (113 cases). In addition, BC patients can also be identified from noncancerous UC individuals with an accuracy of 88.3% in the independent test cohort. Furthermore, metabolite variations between BC and UC individuals are investigated based on relative quantification, and related pathways are also discussed. These results suggest that this method, based on urine metabolic patterns, provides a potential tool for rapidly distinguishing urinary diseases and it may pave the way for precision medicine.     

Sofosbuvir Selects for Drug-Resistant Amino Acid Variants in the Zika Virus RNA-Dependent RNA-Polymerase Complex In Vitro

The nucleotide analog sofosbuvir, licensed for the treatment of hepatitis C, recently revealed activity against the Zika virus (ZIKV) in vitro and in animal models. However, the ZIKV genetic barrier to sofosbuvir has not yet been characterized. In this study, in vitro selection experiments were performed in infected human hepatoma cell lines. Increasing drug pressure significantly delayed viral breakthrough (p = 0.029). A double mutant in the NS5 gene (V360L/V607I) emerged in 3 independent experiments at 40–80 µM sofosbuvir resulting in a 3.9 ± 0.9-fold half- maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) shift with respect to the wild type (WT) virus. A triple mutant (C269Y/V360L/V607I), detected in one experiment at 80 µM, conferred a 6.8-fold IC₅₀ shift with respect to the WT. Molecular dynamics simulations confirmed that the double mutant V360L/V607I impacts the binding mode of sofosbuvir, supporting its role in sofosbuvir resistance. Due to the distance from the catalytic site and to the lack of reliable structural data, the contribution of C269Y was not investigated in silico. By a combination of sequence analysis, phenotypic susceptibility testing, and molecular modeling, we characterized a double ZIKV NS5 mutant with decreased sofosbuvir susceptibility. These data add important information to the profile of sofosbuvir as a possible lead for anti-ZIKV drug development.     

退火工艺对激光选区熔化成形Ti6Al4V合金组织及室温力学性能的影响

以Ti6Al4V球形粉末为原料,利用激光选区熔化成形方法制备了Ti6Al4V合金试样,采用光学显微镜、扫描电镜及力学性能测试等手段,研究了退火工艺对Ti6Al4V合金室温力学性能及组织的影响规律。结果表明: SLM成形沉积态Ti6Al4V合金室温抗拉强度超过1200 MPa,而平均断后伸长率仅为4.0%;在650 ℃下进行真空退火处理,合金的抗拉强度仍保持在1200 MPa左右,规定塑性延伸强度R_p0.2高于1150 MPa,但试样的断后伸长率<10%;而在750及800 ℃下进行真空退火处理,合金试样的抗拉强度降至1100 MPa左右,规定塑性延伸强度高于1050 MPa,伸长率达到甚至超过10%,材料的综合强韧性得到明显提升。随着真空退火加热温度和保温时间的增加,SLM成形Ti6Al4V合金原始β晶界逐渐变模糊,晶粒趋向于等轴化。与此同时,快速冷却转变的α′针状马氏体未出现明显地粗化。     

FCM燃料堆内行为模拟及结构设计研究

本文采用二维特征模型模拟不同无燃料区厚度全陶瓷微封装弥散（FCM）燃料的热力学行为，在保证堆芯装载要求的条件下，研究不同结构FCM燃料SiC基体和包覆燃料颗粒SiC层的应力状态。通过优化无燃料区厚度，调整TRISO颗粒间的间距，保证无燃料区和SiC层同时具有较低的应力水平。分析了无燃料区厚度为100 ~ 500 μm时基体SiC、无燃料区以及SiC层的应力分布，结果表明，基体SiC和SiC层最大应力随无燃料区厚度增大而增大，而无燃料区的最大应力则随其厚度增大而降低。当无燃料区厚度为400 μm时，无燃料区和SiC层均处于较低的应力状态，无燃料区SiC基体应力约为400 MPa，而SiC层的最大环向应力约为200 MPa，其失效概率约为2.5×10-4。因此，当无燃料区厚度为400 μm时，FCM燃料既能维持芯块结构完整，又能保证SiC层具有较低的失效概率。结构优化为FCM燃料的应用提供了基础。      

Ultra-stable K metal anode enabled by oxygen-rich carbon cloth

The K metal batteries are emerged as promising alternatives beyond commercialized Li-ion batteries. However, suppressing uncontrolled dendrite is crucial to the accomplishment of K metal batteries. Herein, an oxygen-rich treated carbon cloth (TCC) has been designed as the K plating host to guide K homogeneous nucleation and suppress the dendrite growth. Both density function theory calculations and experimental results demonstrate that abundant oxygen functional groups as K-philic sites on TCC can guide K nucleation and deposition homogeneously. As a result, the TCC electrode exhibits an ultra-long-life over 800 cycles at high current density of 3.0 mA·cm⁻² for 3.0 mA·h·cm⁻². Furthermore, the symmetrical cells can run stably for 2,000 h with low over-potential less than 20 mV at 1.0 mA·cm⁻² for 1.0 mA·h·cm⁻². Even at a higher current of 5.0 mA·cm⁻², the TCC electrode can still stably cycle for 1,400 h.