Recent works into sulfide-type solid electrolyte materials have attracted much attention among the battery community. Specifically, the oxidative decomposition of phosphorus and sulfur based solid state electrolyte has been considered one of the main hurdles towards practical application. Here we demonstrate that this phenomenon can be leveraged when lithium thiophosphate is applied as an electrochemically "switched-on" functional redox mediator-generator for the activation of commercial bulk lithium sulfide at up to 70 wt.% lithium sulfide electrode content. X-ray adsorption near-edge spectroscopy coupled with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Raman indicate a catalytic effect of generated redox mediators on the first charge of lithium sulfide. In contrast to pre-solvated redox mediator species, this design decouples the lithium sulfide activation process from the constraints of low electrolyte content cell operation stemming from pre-solvated redox mediators. Reasonable performance is demonstrated at strict testing conditions.

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with high energy density that can be safely charged and discharged at high rates are desirable for electrified transportation and other applications^1-3. However, the sub-optimal intercalation potentials of current anodes result in a trade-off between energy density, power and safety. Here we report that disordered rock salt^4,5 Li_3+xV₂O₅ can be used as a fast-charging anode that can reversibly cycle two lithium ions at an average voltage of about 0.6 volts versus a Li/Li⁺ reference electrode. The increased potential compared to graphite^6,7 reduces the likelihood of lithium metal plating if proper charging controls are used, alleviating a major safety concern (short-circuiting related to Li dendrite growth). In addition, a lithium-ion battery with a disordered rock salt Li₃V₂O₅ anode yields a cell voltage much higher than does a battery using a commercial fast-charging lithium titanate anode or other intercalation anode candidates (Li₃VO₄ and LiV_0.5Ti_0.5S₂)^8,9. Further, disordered rock salt Li₃V₂O₅ can perform over 1,000 charge-discharge cycles with negligible capacity decay and exhibits exceptional rate capability, delivering over 40 per cent of its capacity in 20 seconds. We attribute the low voltage and high rate capability of disordered rock salt Li₃V₂O₅ to a redistributive lithium intercalation mechanism with low energy barriers revealed via ab initio calculations. This low-potential, high-rate intercalation reaction can be used to identify other metal oxide anodes for fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the deadliest form of primary brain tumor with limited treatment options. Recent studies have profiled GBM tumor heterogeneity, revealing numerous axes of variation that explain the molecular and spatial features of the tumor. Here, we seek to bridge descriptive characterization of GBM cell type heterogeneity with the functional role of individual populations within the tumor. Our lens leverages a gene program-centric meta-atlas of published transcriptomic studies to identify commonalities between diverse tumors and cell types in order to decipher the mechanisms that drive them. This approach led to the discovery of a tumor-derived stem cell population with mixed vascular and neural stem cell features, termed a neurovascular progenitor (NVP). Following in situ validation and molecular characterization of NVP cells in GBM patient samples, we characterized their function in vivo. Genetic depletion of NVP cells resulted in altered tumor cell composition, fewer cycling cells, and extended survival, underscoring their critical functional role. Clonal analysis of primary patient tumors in a human organoid tumor transplantation system demonstrated that the NVP has dual potency, generating both neuronal and vascular tumor cells. Although NVP cells comprise a small fraction of the tumor, these clonal analyses demonstrated that they strongly contribute to the total number of cycling cells in the tumor and generate a defined subset of the whole tumor. This study represents a paradigm by which cell type-specific interrogation of tumor populations can be used to study functional heterogeneity and therapeutically targetable vulnerabilities of GBM.