CAS QIBEBT: a homogenous cathode material enhances the life cycle of Li batteries dramatically

https://english.news.cn/20240826/bcc0b831623a49e590ff4c21d0c6b68b/c.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-024-01596-6

A research team from CAS QIBEBT has developed a new homogeneous cathode material, which will enable solid lithium batteries to have higher safety and superior performance, has not yet been named. It achieves over 1,000 times the electronic and ionic conductivity of traditional battery cathode materials. It can smoothly undergo charge and discharge cycles without conductive additives, which simplifies the battery preparation process and also improves the performance of the all-solid-state lithium battery.

Homogeneous cathodes were composed of 100% Li1.75Ti2(Ge0.25P0.75S3.8Se0.2)3 enable room-temperature all-solid-state lithium batteries to achieve a cycle life of over 20,000 cycles at 2.5 C with a specific capacity retention of 70% and a high energy density of 390 Wh kg−1 at the cell level at 0.1 C. This cathode homogenization strategy contrasts to the conventional cathode heterogeneous design, potentially improving the viability of all-solid-state lithium batteries for commercial applications.

more insights

A new Fischer-Tropsch route which eliminates CO2 formation

https://en.people.cn/n3/2025/1031/c90000-20384954.html

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea0774

A group at Peking University has developed technology that almost completely eliminates carbon dioxide by-products during Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS), offering a new route to green syngas conversion and low-carbon chemical manufacturing. FTS converts the syngas of carbon dioxide and hydrogen into liquid fuels or high-value chemicals such as olefins. It serves as the pivotal bridge for turning coal, natural gas, biomass and other carbon resources into fuels and value-added chemicals.

The researchers have used a sodium-modified FeCx@Fe3O4 core-shell catalyst coupling water-gas shift (WGS) with syngas-to-olefins (STO) to convert water into hydrogen in situ. HAE reaches about 66 to 83%, exceeding that of methanol-to-olefins (MTO, 50% upper limit). The approximately 95% carbon monoxide conversion and >75% olefin selectivity were simultaneously obtained. The coupling effect was validated by isotope tracing with deuterium oxide and blocking the WGS pathway, and the contribution of WGS was quantitatively evaluated. These results, using lower hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratios, implied that reducing steam consumption in the WGS reaction and reducing the overall output of carbon dioxide and wastewater enabled a sustainable STO process for potential industrialization.

read more

An automated digital colony picker monitors growth and metabolite production, eliminating the need for culturing cells

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63929-7

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/life/202510/t20251014_1089412.shtml

The group around Jian XU from the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) has developed a fully automated “Digital Colony Picker” (DCP). This device identifies and retrieves high-performance microbial clones by simultaneously monitoring their growth and metabolite production—eliminating the need for culture plates, sampling needles, or manual picking.

Designed for the “design-build-test-learn” framework widely adopted in synthetic biology, the DCP streamlines the traditionally slow, labor-intensive “test” phase into a fast, parallel workflow with little hands-on time. It has a microfluidic chip containing 16,000 addressable microchambers that isolate single cells and track their expansion into micro-colonies. An integrated AI engine conducts time-lapse analysis of both brightfield and biosensor signals to quantify growth kinetics and metabolite production in real time. Once target colonies are identified, a laser-induced bubble technique exports them as droplets directly into standard culture plates. This contact-free transfer minimizes cross-contamination and preserves cell viability.

The equipment which was tested for identifying high-yield or lactate-tolerant Zymomonas mobilis mutants is  broadly applicable to adaptive evolution studies, functional gene discovery, and phenotype screening across diverse microbial species.

read more

Epigenetic modifications help algae to adapt to low CO2 environments

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/life/202510/t20251010_1089023.shtml

https://www.cell.com/plant-communications/pdf/S2590-3462(25)00296-2.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2590346225002962%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

A research team from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has identified a specific histone modification as the key regulator governing microalgae’s adaptation to low-CO2environments.

The study focused on Nannochloropsis oceanica, tracking its epigenomic dynamics as it transitioned from an environment with 5% CO2 to one with just 0.01% CO2. Using multi-dimensional epigenomic sequencing techniques, the researchers discovered that global DNA methylation in the alga remained stable at 0.13%, effectively ruling out DNA methylation as a major driver of its low-CO2response. By contrast, H3K4me2 methylationwas found to be closely associated with 43.1% of the genes that respond to low-CO2 conditions. These genes include those critical to photosynthesis and ribosome biogenesis, two processes essential for the alga’s survival under carbon-limited stress. Further analysis revealed that H3K4me2 appears to regulate gene transcription by altering chromatin accessibility, a mechanism that aligns with its role as a central regulator of low-CO2 adaptation.

To validate their findings, the team used CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. They knocked out NO24G02310—a gene that encodes an H3K4 methyltransferase, the enzyme responsible for adding methyl groups to H3K4. The modified algae showed a roughly 22% reduction in growth rate and a 15% decrease in biomass. Additionally, the levels of another histone modification (H3K4me1) dropped, and the genome-wide localization of H3K4me2 shifted—providing direct evidence of H3K4me2’s role in low-CO2 adaptation. Further experiments uncovered that H3K4 modification may act via two pathways: by regulating enzyme networks and by modulating chloroplast transmembrane pH gradients. Both mechanisms work to optimize the alga’s use of available CO2, enhancing its survival under low-carbon conditions.

read more

Back to …

青岛 Qingdao
 a hub for S&T