Scientists have uncovered a root cause of the growth of needle-like structures—known as dendrites and whiskers—that plague lithium batteries, sometimes causing a short circuit, failure, or even a fire.
Nanophysics
Oct 14, 2019
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888
When most people think of colour change, they think of octopuses or chameleons – but the ability to rapidly change colour is surprisingly widespread.
Plants & Animals
May 3, 2013
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2
(Phys.org) —One of the biggest challenges facing rechargeable batteries with lithium (Li) electrodes is the growth of dendrites, which can short-circuit the batteries and cause complete failure. Although dendrites do their ...
All-solid-state batteries, a battery design composed of all solid components, have gained attention as the next major advance beyond lithium ion batteries because of their potential to store more energy while being safer ...
Materials Science
Aug 1, 2019
1
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(PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA scientists have discovered a way to wake up the immune system to fight cancer by delivering an immune system-stimulating protein in a nanoscale container called a vault directly into lung cancer tumors, ...
Bio & Medicine
May 3, 2011
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0
By designing a solid electrolyte that is rigid on one side and soft on the other, researchers have fabricated a lithium-metal battery that completely suppresses dendrite formation—a major safety hazard that can cause fires ...
Recently, researchers at Tsinghua University, China have proposed a graphene-based nanostructured lithium metal anode for lithium metal batteries to inhibit dendrite growth and improve electrochemistry performance. They report ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 21, 2016
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899
Rice University scientists are counting on films of carbon nanotubes to make high-powered, fast-charging lithium metal batteries a logical replacement for common lithium-ion batteries.
Nanomaterials
Oct 25, 2018
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318
(Phys.org) —Activating the body's immune system to attack cancer and prevent it from recurring is one of the Holy Grails of cancer research because of its ability to specifically target cancer and to search almost anywhere ...
Bio & Medicine
Jul 15, 2013
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Don't go sticking your electronic devices in a toaster oven just yet, but for a longer-lasting battery, you might someday heat them up when not in use. Over time, the electrodes inside a rechargeable battery cell can grow ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 1, 2015
4
899
Dendrites (from Greek δένδρον déndron, “tree”) are the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendrites project. Electrical stimulation is transmitted onto dendrites by upstream neurons via synapses which are located at various points throughout the dendritic arbor. Dendrites play a critical role in integrating these synaptic inputs and in determining the extent to which action potentials are produced by the neuron. Recent research has also found that dendrites can support action potentials and release neurotransmitters, a property that was originally believed to be specific to axons.
The long outgrowths on immune system dendritic cells are also called dendrites. These dendrites do not process electrical signals.
Certain classes of dendrites (i.e. Purkinje cells of cerebellum, cerebral cortex) contain small projections referred to as "appendages" or "spines". Appendages increase receptive properties of dendrites to isolate signal specificity. Increased neural activity at spines increases their size and conduction which is thought to play a role in learning and memory formation. There are approximately 200,000 spines per cell, each of which serve as a postsynaptic process for individual presynaptic axons.
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