Disassembly Strategy Research Articles

Interactive Kinetic Facade with Design for Disassembly (DfD) strategy: improving energy efficiency and circularity of building materials in tropical climate

ABSTRACT Building is a significant contributor to energy and material consumption. In tropical countries, the primary energy consumer in buildings is Air Conditioning (AC), driven by the cooling load from solar radiation. Interactive Kinetic Facade (IKF) can reduce building energy consumption by mitigating solar radiation. Furthermore, IKF has drawbacks in maintenance and disassembly. Therefore, this study proposed a Design for Disassembly (DfD) strategy that allows building components to easily disassemble for reuse. The objective of this study was to investigate the application of IKF with DfD strategy in the Engineering Center (EC) building facade. This study proposed a combination of on-site measurements, simulations, and calculations to comprehend the impact of IKF with DfD strategy implementation on energy consumption and material reusability. This research found that implementing IKF with the DfD strategy can significantly reduce solar radiation through building facade. The reduction can be indicated by a decrease of several parameters, Overall Thermal Transfer Value (OTTV) by 59%, annual operative temperature by 2.53°C and Energy Use Intensity (EUI) by 47.43%. In addition, the facade disassembly process is simpler with only 1 tool and 4 stages. This study could serve as a reference to improve energy efficiency and material reusability in building sector.

Partially observable deep reinforcement learning for multi-agent strategy optimization of human-robot collaborative disassembly: A case of retired electric vehicle battery

The burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) industry has precipitated a commensurate surge in the consumption of EV batteries, which are currently labor-intensive and inefficient for the recycling and disassembly of EV batteries. However, it is a potential trend to enhance the efficacy and safety of the disassembly of EV batteries based on human-robot collaboration (HRC) method. Because of the uncertainty of retired EV battery disassembly and the inefficiency of the existing disassembling sequence, it is difficult to be fully accomplish through HRC disassembly. The collaborative disassembly of EV batteries by humans and robots can be conceptualized as agents engaging with and learning from the environment, and modeled as a multi-agent Markov game process. This paper aims to address the challenge of HRC in the disassembly of EV batteries by recognizing the dual attributes of partial observability and non-smoothness in the suitable disassembly scenario. A partially observable multi-agent reinforcement learning environment is constructed, incorporating the structural aspects of the EV battery and the disassembly task. The framework is extended to the QMIX-HRC algorithm on the QMIX architecture (as a value-based multi-agent deep reinforcement learning algorithm), specifically designed to tackle the sequence problem in human-robot collaborative disassembly of EV batteries. The optimization results would yield a task sequence to offer maximal global co-benefit during the exploration iteration, facilitating a reduction in labor costs and an enhancement of co-efficiency. The viability of the QMIX-HRC disassembly strategy would be verified through the eventual disassembly sequence of a simulated battery pack through a real human-robot collaborative disassembly station.

Community detection with Greedy Modularity disassembly strategy

Community detection recognizes groups of densely connected nodes across networks, one of the fundamental procedures in network analysis. This research boosts the standard but locally optimized Greedy Modularity algorithm for community detection. We introduce innovative exploration techniques that include a variety of node and community disassembly strategies. These strategies include methods like non-triad creating, feeble, random as well as inadequate embeddedness for nodes, as well as low internal edge density, low triad participation ratio, weak, low conductance as well as random tactics for communities. We present a methodology that showcases the improvement in modularity across the wide variety of real-world and synthetic networks over the standard approaches. A detailed comparison against other well-known community detection algorithms further illustrates the better performance of our improved method. This study not only optimizes the process of community detection but also broadens the scope for a more nuanced and effective network analysis that may pave the way for more insights as to the dynamism and structures of its functioning by effectively addressing and overcoming the limitations that are inherently attached with the existing community detection algorithms.

Flexible metallosalen complex for pyrophosphate sensing in biological milieu: Use disassembly strategy for signal amplification

In the present work, we have designed and synthesized two dimeric fluorescein derivatives with flexible salen (1) or a rigid salophen (2) linker unit. The Fe(III) complexes of these compounds ([1.Fe]+ and [2.Fe]+) showed changes in solution color specifically upon addition of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) at pH 7.0 in PBS buffer. Along this, we also observe appearance of green fluorescence (turn-on) in the prescence of PPi. The mechanistic studies suggested PPi-induced demetallation process, which led to disassembly for molecular structure in the aqueous medium and release of highly fluorescent fluorescein aldehyde. The disassembly process was found to be dependent on electronic structure, rigidity of the linker unit, temperature, and local pH etc. The selectivity as well as sensitivity of [1.Fe]+ towards PPi was also found to be superior than that observed with [2.Fe]+. Since each disassembly process released two signalling unit (fluorescein), we could observe a huge increment in FL intensity even with small quantity of PPi (<10 µM). Finally, the sensory system was utilized for detection of PPi in diluted blood serum samples and inside living mammalian cells (HeLa, cervical cancer cells). Chemically-modified paper strips have been developed for the detection of PPi in water samples at outside laboratory conditions.

Relationships Between Defectivity and Porosity in High Surface Area Porous Aromatic Frameworks.

Porous aromatic framework (PAF) microporosity is known to be strongly dependent on synthetic approach but little is known about why certain reactions yield significantly and consistently more porous PAFs. This article explores the connections between synthetic pathway, PAF defectivity, and microporosity. Using a network disassembly strategy, we show that defectivity is highly dependent on synthetic approach and that more defective PAFs are associated with lower surface areas and pore volumes. This empirical association is corroborated through systematic introduction of defects to a modelPAF, which results in significant reduction of apparent surface area and pore volumes. Taken together, these data suggest that only highly efficient coupling reactions should be targeted for the synthesis of ultra-high surface area porous aromatic frameworks.

Relationships Between Defectivity and Porosity in High Surface Area Porous Aromatic Frameworks**

AbstractPorous aromatic framework (PAF) microporosity is known to be strongly dependent on synthetic approach but little is known about why certain reactions yield significantly and consistently more porous PAFs. This article explores the connections between synthetic pathway, PAF defectivity, and microporosity. Using a network disassembly strategy, we show that defectivity is highly dependent on synthetic approach and that more defective PAFs are associated with lower surface areas and pore volumes. This empirical association is corroborated through systematic introduction of defects to a modelPAF, which results in significant reduction of apparent surface area and pore volumes. Taken together, these data suggest that only highly efficient coupling reactions should be targeted for the synthesis of ultra‐high surface area porous aromatic frameworks.

Photoactivated DNA Assembly and Disassembly for On‐Demand Activation and Termination of cGAS‐STING Signaling

AbstractDespite significant progress in DNA self‐assembly for interfacing with biology, spatiotemporally controlled regulation of biological process via in situ dynamic DNA assembly remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we report an optically triggered DNA assembly and disassembly strategy that enables on‐demand activation and termination of the cyclic GMP‐AMP synthase (cGAS)‐stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling pathway. In the design, an activatable DNA hairpin is engineered with a photocleavable group at defined site to modulate its self‐assembly activity. Light activation induces the configurational switching and consequent self‐assembly of the DNA hairpins to form long linear double‐stranded structures, allowing to stimulate cGAS protein to synthesize 2′,3′‐cyclic‐GMP‐AMP (cGAMP) for STING stimulation. Furthermore, by endowing the pre‐assembled DNA scaffold with a built‐in photolysis feature, we demonstrate that the cGAS‐STING stimulation can be efficiently terminated through remote photo‐triggering, providing for the first time a route to control the temporal “dose” on‐demand for such a stimulation. We envision that this regulation strategy will benefit and inspire both fundamental research and therapeutic applications regarding the cGAS‐STING pathway.

Photoactivated DNA Assembly and Disassembly for On-Demand Activation and Termination of cGAS-STING Signaling.

Despite significant progress in DNA self-assembly for interfacing with biology, spatiotemporally controlled regulation of biological process via in situ dynamic DNA assembly remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we report an optically triggered DNA assembly and disassembly strategy that enables on-demand activation and termination of the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling pathway. In the design, an activatable DNA hairpin is engineered with a photocleavable group at defined site to modulate its self-assembly activity. Light activation induces the configurational switching and consequent self-assembly of the DNA hairpins to form long linear double-stranded structures, allowing to stimulate cGAS protein to synthesize 2',3'-cyclic-GMP-AMP (cGAMP) for STING stimulation. Furthermore, by endowing the pre-assembled DNA scaffold with a built-in photolysis feature, we demonstrate that the cGAS-STING stimulation can be efficiently terminated through remote photo-triggering, providing for the first time a route to control the temporal "dose" on-demand for such a stimulation. We envision that this regulation strategy will benefit and inspire both fundamental research and therapeutic applications regarding the cGAS-STING pathway.

Human-robot collaboration disassembly planning for end-of-life power batteries

Due to the performance benefits and increasing customer environmental awareness, recycling end-of-life power batteries have drawn more attention. Remanufacturing has been considered an effective way to extract their values in recent years. The most crucial step of recycling and remanufacturing is disassembling them into parts. To efficiently disassemble power batteries, a human-robot collaboration model to minimize the completion time is developed by integrating optimization problems containing three strongly coupled sub-problems at disassembly stages: the scheduling sequence of several batteries with varying degrees of damage, the disassembly procedure of the internal battery parts as well as the human-robot assigned disassembly strategy. The solution space and optimization difficulty of the problem increased significantly. So, a hybrid particle swarm optimization with the Q-learning algorithm (HPSO_QL) is designed to solve the human-robot collaboration for disassembly based on power batteries (HRCD_PBs). In this algorithm, a unique encoding and decoding method is proposed. Meanwhile, a self-learning module is applied to select an optimizer from the combination of various perturbations and different local searches in each iteration to explore and complete effective real-time scheduling better. By contrasting with well-known metaheuristic algorithms and disturbance settings under different instances, the results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of HPSO_QL and its superiors to the existing algorithms in solving the problem of HRCD_PBs.

Controlled sequential in situ self-assembly and disassembly of a fluorogenic cisplatin prodrug for cancer theranostics

Temporal control of delivery and release of drugs in tumors are important in improving therapeutic outcomes to patients. Here, we report a sequential stimuli-triggered in situ self-assembly and disassembly strategy to direct delivery and release of theranostic drugs in vivo. Using cisplatin as a model anticancer drug, we design a stimuli-responsive small-molecule cisplatin prodrug (P-CyPt), which undergoes extracellular alkaline phosphatase-triggered in situ self-assembly and succeeding intracellular glutathione-triggered disassembly process, allowing to enhance accumulation and elicit burst release of cisplatin in tumor cells. Compared with cisplatin, P-CyPt greatly improves antitumor efficacy while mitigates off-target toxicity in mice with subcutaneous HeLa tumors and orthotopic HepG2 liver tumors after systemic administration. Moreover, P-CyPt also produces activated near-infrared fluorescence (at 710 nm) and dual photoacoustic imaging signals (at 700 and 750 nm), permitting high sensitivity and spatial-resolution delineation of tumor foci and real-time monitoring of drug delivery and release in vivo. This strategy leverages the advantages offered by in situ self-assembly with those of intracellular disassembly, which may act as a general platform for the design of prodrugs capable of improving drug delivery for cancer theranostics.

Bioorthogonal Disassembly of Hierarchical DNAzyme Nanogel for High-Performance Intracellular microRNA Imaging.

Rolling circle amplification (RCA) enables the facile construction of compact and versatile DNA nanoassemblies which are yet rarely explored for intracellular analysis. This is might be ascribed to the uncontrollable and inefficient probe integration/activation. Herein, by encoding with tandem allosteric deoxyribozyme (DNA-cleaving DNAzyme), a multifunctional RCA nanogel was established for realizing the efficient intracellular microRNA imaging via the successive activation of the RCA-disassembly module and signal amplification module. The endogenous microRNA stimulates the precise degradation of DNA nanocarriers, thus leading to the efficient exposure of RCA-entrapped DNAzyme biocatalyst for an amplified readout signal. Our bioorthogonal DNAzyme disassembly strategy achieved the robust analysis of intracellular biomolecules, thus showing more prospects in clinical diagnosis.

A Novel Disassembly Strategy of Hexagonal Screws Based on Robot Vision and Robot-Tool Cooperated Motion

Disassembly plays an important role in the production process. Screw automatic unfastening guided by a robot has been widely used in the fields of industrial manufacturing and maintenance. Different from the previous studies that have used a flexible effector and expensive sensors, this paper presents a novel unfastening strategy based on robot vision for a hexagonal screw with an arbitrary loose state. In a robotic system, an industrial camera and a servo unfastening tool are installed at a robotic end-effector. The main contributions of this work are as follows. A camera pose adjustment method is proposed to obtain high-quality images of a target screw. The hexagonal screw pose calculation method based on the geometric analysis is developed to complete the screw–tool engagement. The cooperated motion of a robot and an unfastening tool is planned for the screw unfastening action. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified by experiments, and the influence of the motion speed on the unfastening quality is analyzed using the torque data collected by the unfastening tool. The analysis results can provide a significant foundation for the motion parameter selection in the proposed strategy.

Controlling Disassembly of Paramagnetic Prodrug and Photosensitizer Nanoassemblies for On-Demand Orthotopic Glioma Theranostics

Controlling delivery and release of therapeutic agents to accomplish on-demand synergistic therapy of orthotopic gliomas is desired but challenging. Here, we report a glioma targeting and redox activatable theranostic nanoprobe (Co-NP-RGD1/1) for magnetic resonance (MR) and fluorescence (FL) bimodal imaging-guided on-demand synergistic chemotherapy/photodynamic therapy (Chemo-PDT) of orthotopic gliomas. Co-NP-RGD1/1 is formed via molecular coassembly of two paramagnetic and fluorogenic small-molecule probes CPT-RGD and PPa-RGD at an optimized molar ratio of 1/1, which shows a high longitudinal relaxivity (r1 = 17.0 ± 0.6 mM-1 s-1, 0.5 T) but weak FL emissions and low Chemo-PDT activity. Upon reduction by endogenous glutathione (GSH), Co-NP-RGD1/1 disassemble and release small molecules 2-RGD, chemodrug camptothecin (CPT), and near-infrared (NIR) photosensitizer (PS) PPa-SH that further binds to endogenous albumin to form PPa-SH-albumin complex, allowing to turn on FL, chemotherapeutic efficacy, and PDT activity for synergistic Chemo-PDT of orthotopic U87MG or U251 gliomas in living mice. Moreover, Co-NP-RGD1/1 can also allow noninvasive detection and monitoring of orthotopic brain tumor growth via FL and MR imaging. Findings suggest the potential of cascade coassembly and stimuli-controlled intracellular disassembly strategy for constructing targeted and activatable nanoagents for improving combinational cancer theranostics.

Disassembly of DNA origami dimers controlled by programmable polymerase primers.

Dynamic regulation of DNA origami nanostructures is important for the fabrication of intelligent DNA nanodevices. Toehold-mediated strand displacement is a common regulation strategy, which utilizes trigger strands to assemble and disassemble nanostructures. Such trigger strands are required to be completely complementary to the corresponding substrate strands, which strictly demands orthogonality and accuracy of the sequence design. Herein, we present a disassembly strategy of DNA origami dimers based on polymerase-triggered strand displacement, where the polymerase primers, as the trigger strands, were only partially complementary to the toehold region of the substrate strands. To demonstrate the programmability of trigger strands, we utilized primers with different sequence combination patterns to disassemble DNA origami dimers. The statistical summary of AFM images and fluorescence curves proved the feasibility of the new strategy. The utilization of polymerase-triggered strand displacement on the disassembly of DNA origami structures enriches the toolbox for the dynamic regulation of DNA nanostructures.

Bioorthogonal Disassembly of Tetrazine Bearing Supramolecular Assemblies Inside Living Cells.

Supramolecular assemblies are an emerging class of nanomaterials for drug delivery systems (DDS), while their unintended retention in the biological milieu remains largely unsolved. To realize the prompt clearance of supramolecular assemblies, the bioorthogonal reaction to disassemble and clear the supramolecular assemblies within living cells is investigated here. A series of tetrazine-capped assembly precursors which can self-assemble into nanofibers and hydrogels upon enzymatic dephosphorylation are designed. Such an enzyme-instructed supramolecular assembly process can perform intracellularly. The time-dependent accumulation of assemblies elicits oxidative stress and induces cellular toxicity. Tetrazine-bearing assemblies react with trans-cyclooctene derivatives, which lead to the disruption of π-π stacking and induce disassembly. In this way, the intracellular self-assemblies disassemble and are deprived of potency. This bioorthogonal disassembly strategy leverages the biosafety aspect in developing nanomaterials for DDSs.

Optimization of Disassembly Strategies for Electric Vehicle Batteries

Various studies show that electrification, integrated into a circular economy, is crucial to reach sustainable mobility solutions. In this context, the circular use of electric vehicle batteries (EVBs) is particularly relevant because of the resource intensity during manufacturing. After reaching the end-of-life phase, EVBs can be subjected to various circular economy strategies, all of which require the previous disassembly. Today, disassembly is carried out manually and represents a bottleneck process. At the same time, extremely high return volumes have been forecast for the next few years, and manual disassembly is associated with safety risks. That is why automated disassembly is identified as being a key enabler of highly efficient circularity. However, several challenges need to be addressed to ensure secure, economic, and ecological disassembly processes. One of these is ensuring that optimal disassembly strategies are determined, considering the uncertainties during disassembly. This paper introduces our design for an adaptive disassembly planner with an integrated disassembly strategy optimizer. Furthermore, we present our optimization method for obtaining optimal disassembly strategies as a combination of three decisions: (1) the optimal disassembly sequence, (2) the optimal disassembly depth, and (3) the optimal circular economy strategy at the component level. Finally, we apply the proposed method to derive optimal disassembly strategies for one selected battery system for two condition scenarios. The results show that the optimization of disassembly strategies must also be used as a tool in the design phase of battery systems to boost the disassembly automation and thus contribute to achieving profitable circular economy solutions for EVBs.

On-Demand Assembly and Disassembly of a 3D Swimming Magnetic Mini-Propeller With Two Modules

Various morphologies and motions have been investigated extensively for robots on substrates or interfaces. However, the locomotion of modular robots in 3D free spaces remains challenging owing to zero dependence on boundaries, in particular at small scales. Here we propose simply modularized miniature propellers (mini-propellers) with vertical mobility. These mini-propellers perform directional self-assembly and on-demand disassembly for increasing adaptability in complex environments. They can travel through a 3D maze, and the 3D locomotion is realized by regulating programmable magnetic fields. Furthermore, the mechanism of vertical swimming and disassembly is theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified. We find that the mini-propeller in critical poses is capable of swimming upstream against flows. Optimal actuation conditions for conducting effective upstream motion are determined. Mini-propellers may help exploit more off-boundary swimming behaviors, and the simple assembly and disassembly strategy is anticipated to be a useful and scalable method to develop small-scale modularized robots for versatile functionalities.

Assembly of Chiral Cluster-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks and the Chirality Memory Effect during their Disassembly.

Many metal clusters are intrinsically chiral but are often synthesized as a racemic mixture. By taking chiral Ag14(SPh(CF3)2)12(PPh3)4(DMF)4 (Ag14) clusters with bulky thiolate ligands as an example, we demonstrate herein an interesting assembly disassembly (ASDS) strategy to obtain the corresponding, optically pure crystals of both homochiral enantiomers, R-Ag14m and S-Ag14m. The ASDS strategy makes use of two bidentate linkers with different chiral configurations, namely, (1R,2R,N1E,N2E)-N1,N2-bis(pyridin-3-ylmethylene)cyclohexane-1,2-diamine (LR) and the corresponding chiral analogue LS. For comparison, we also use the racemic mixture of equimolar of LR and LS (LRS). Three three-dimensional (3D) Ag14-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were characterized by X-ray crystallography to be [Ag14(SPh(CF3)2)12(PPh3)4(LR)2]n (Ag14-LR), [Ag14(SPh(CF3)2)12(PPh3)4(LS)2]n (Ag14-LS), and [Ag14(SPh(CF3)2)12(PPh3)4(LRS)2]n (Ag14-LRS), respectively. As expected, the building blocks in Ag14-LR or Ag14-LS are homochiral R-Ag14 or S-Ag14, respectively. In contrast, Ag14-LRS is achiral and crystallizes with a diamond-like structure containing alternate R-Ag14 and S-Ag14 clusters. During the assembly process, the racemic Ag14 clusters were converted to homochiral building blocks, namely, R-Ag14 for Ag14-LR and S-Ag14 for Ag14-LS. Subsequently, the chiral linkers were removed from the crystals of Ag14-LR and Ag14-LS via hydrolysis with water, and from the disassembled solid material Ag14-DR and Ag14-DS, optically pure enantiomers R-Ag14m and S-Ag14m were obtained. It is hoped that this simple assembly strategy can be used to construct cluster-based chiral assemblage materials and that the subsequent disassembly protocol can be used to obtain optically pure chiral cluster molecules from as-prepared racemic mixtures.

Induced Disassembly of a Virus-like Particle under Physiological Conditions for Venom Peptide Delivery.

Virus-like particles (VLPs) show considerable promise for the in vivo delivery of therapeutic compounds such as bioactive venom peptides. While loading and targeting protocols have been developed for numerous VLP prototypes, induced disassembly under physiological conditions of neutral pH, moderate temperature, and aqueous medium remain a challenge. Here, we implement and evaluate a general mechanism, based on ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), for controllable VLP disassembly. This mechanism is independent of cell-specific factors or the manipulation of environmental conditions such as pH and temperature that cannot be readily controlled in vivo. The ROMP substrate norbornene is covalently conjugated to surface-exposed lysine residues of a P22 bacteriophage-derived VLP, and ROMP is induced by treatment with the water-soluble ruthenium catalyst AquaMet. Disruption of the P22 shell and release of a GFP reporter is confirmed via native agarose electrophoresis, TEM, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analyses. Our ROMP disassembly strategy does not depend on the particular structure or morphology of the P22 nanocontainer and is adaptable to other VLP prototypes for the potential delivery of venom peptides for pharmacological applications.

Disassembly Automation for Recycling End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Pouch Cells

Rapid advances in the use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and electric grid storage have led to a large number of end-of-life (EOL) LIBs awaiting recycling to reclaim critical materials and eliminate environmental hazards. This article studies automatic mechanical separation methodology for EOL pouch LIBs with Z-folded electrode-separator compounds (ESC). Customized handling tools are designed, manufactured, and assembled into an automatic disassembly system prototype that consists of three modules. Verification experiments utilizing dummy cells prove that the main components of pouch LIBs (cathode sheets, anode sheets, separators, and polymer-laminated aluminum film housing) can be automatically separated and extracted with well-preserved integrity using our proposed disassembly strategy.