Solid electrolytes are promising materials for safer, more compact all-solid-state batteries, but producing smooth thin films with high ionic conductivity remains challenging. In a recent study, researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, developed a multilayer method using lithium borohydride and lithium iodide to create high-iodine thin films. Their approach improved iodine incorporation, maintained relatively smooth surfaces, and produced good room-temperature ionic conductivity, opening new possibilities for thin-film solid electrolytes.

Lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO₂, LCO) stands as one of the most representative cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries. The improvement in energy density of LiCoO₂ is essentially achieved by increasing the charge cut-off voltage. However, under high-voltage conditions, the electrolyte solvent molecules undergo severe oxidative decomposition at the cathode interface. Moreover, a series of issues including transition metal dissolution, oxygen release, and deteriorated thermal stability, have become bottlenecks that severely restrict its practical application.

To address this challenge, Prof. Yang Sun (Sun Yat-sen University), Associate Researcher Maolin Yang (Xiamen University), Professors Qiaobao Zhang (Xiamen University), Yu Qiao (Xiamen University), and Academician Shi-gang Sun (Xiamen University) have proposed a novel strategy to stabilize high-voltage LiCoO₂ cathodes by coating them with a conformal zeolite layer using a scalable high-speed solid-phase mechanofusion technique. The sub-nano channels of zeolite enable complete Li⁺ desolvation, creating a locally supersaturated electrolyte that suppresses solvent decomposition. The Zeolite@LCO cathode achieves ~83% capacity retention after 300 cycles at 4.8 V and stable operation at 5.0 V, with significantly enhanced thermal safety. This work provides a translatable paradigm for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries. This work was recently published online in Science Bulletin.

A Pusan National University study reveals that sustainability communication may depend not only on the message itself but also on the sequence in which the environmental information is presented. The study reveals that an initial exposure to environmental degradation can heighten early attentional engagement and emotional arousal, while a subsequent positive green solution creates a contrast-based shift in emotional valence that drives stronger pro-environmental behaviors.  

No-code biological modeling: BSC researchers developed open-access tools (MCP servers) that connect AI agents with specialized computational biology software, allowing complex multicellular models to be built through simple conversation.

From months to 10 minutes: The framework enables experimental biologists to generate initial 3D tumor digital twin prototypes in under 10 minutes without writing a single line of code or mastering complex software.

Accelerating cancer research: Published in npj Systems Biology and Applications, the study demonstrates how targeted, iterative AI interactions ensure reproducibility, paving the way for AI-assisted modeling of complex diseases.

A research team at the Faculty of Engineering of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), led by Professor Ruibang Luo from the School of Computing and Data Science and Professor Can Li from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has developed Gungnir, a novel blockchain-inspired DNA data storage codec. The breakthrough framework significantly improves digital information recovery from severely damaged DNA sequences, extending the practical lifespan of DNA data archives from under a decade to centuries.