Press-N-Go On-Skin Sensor with High Interfacial Toughness for Continuous Healthcare Monitoring.

On-skin electronic sensors are demanded for healthcare monitoring such as the continuous recording of biopotential and motion signals from patients. However, the mechanical mismatches and poor interface adhesion at the skin/sensor interfaces always cause high interfacial impedance and artifacts, frequent interfacial failure, and unexpected depletion of the device, which significantly limit the performance of the sensors. We here develop an on-skin sensor based on a conductive pressure-sensitive tape, which is assembled from supramolecular dual-cross-linked hydrogel composites.

An amino acid-based supramolecular nanozyme by coordination self-assembly for cascade catalysis and enhanced chemodynamic therapy towards biomedical applications.

The clinical translation of chemodynamic therapy has been highly obstructed by the insufficient intracellular HO level in diseased tissues. Herein, we developed a supramolecular nanozyme through a facile one-step cooperative coordination self-assembly of an amphipathic amino acid and glucose oxidase (GOx) in the presence of Fe. The results demonstrated that the supramolecular nanozyme possessed cascade enzymatic activity (, GOx and peroxidase), which could amplify the killing efficacy of hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) self-supplying HO, finally achieving synergistic starvation-chemodynamic cancer therapy .

Supramolecular Adhesive Materials with Antimicrobial Activity for Emerging Biomedical Applications.

Traditional adhesives or glues such as cyanoacrylates, fibrin glue, polyethylene glycol, and their derivatives have been widely used in biomedical fields. However, they still suffer from numerous limitations, including the mechanical mismatch with biological tissues, weak adhesion on wet surfaces, biological incompatibility, and incapability of integrating desired multifunction. In addition to adaptive mechanical and adhesion properties, adhesive biomaterials should be able to integrate multiple functions such as stimuli-responsiveness, control-releasing of small or macromolecular therapeutic molecules, hosting of various cells, and programmable degradation to fulfill the requirements in the specific biological systems.

Liquid Metal Nanoparticles as a Highly Efficient Photoinitiator to Develop Multifunctional Hydrogel Composites.

Liquid metal (LM) composites are a class of emerging soft multifunctional materials that are promising for a variety of applications, yet the chemistry properties of LM have not been fully understood. Here, we report that LM nanoparticles can directly perform as a photoinitiator for radical polymerization and the in situ development of highly tough and multifunctional LM hydrogel composites. It is revealed that the photocatalytic activity of LM nanoparticles originates from the oxide layer on LM.

Bactericidal, anti-biofilm, and anti-virulence activity of vitamin C against carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent .

The emergence of carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent (CR-hvKP) causing high mortality in clinical patients infers the urgent need for developing therapeutic agents. Here, we demonstrated vitamin C (VC) exhibited strong bactericidal, anti-biofilm, and virulence-suppressing effects on CR-hvKP. Our results showed such a bactericidal effect is dose-dependent both and in the mouse infection model and is associated with induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation.

Continuous Energy Harvesting from Ubiquitous Humidity Gradients using Liquid-Infused Nanofluidics.

Humidity-based power generation that converts internal energy of water molecules into electricity is an emerging approach for harvesting clean energy from nature. Here it is proposed that intrinsic gradient within a humidity field near sweating surfaces, such as rivers, soil, or animal skin, is a promising power resource when integrated with liquid-infused nanofluidics. Specifically, capillary-stabilized ionic liquid (IL, Omim Cl ) film is exposed to the above humidity field to create a sustained transmembrane water-content difference, which enables asymmetric ion-diffusion across the nanoconfined fluidics, facilitating long-term electricity generation with the power density of ≈12.

Ultrastretchable conductive liquid metal composites enabled by adaptive interfacial polarization.

Gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) are emerging candidates for the development of metal/polymer-based flexible circuits in wearable electronics. However, the high surface energies of LMs make them easily depleted from the polymer matrix and therefore substantially suppress the stretchability of the conductive composites. Here, we reveal that a dynamic interplay between the LM and the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) copolymer can help to address these issues.

Mechano-Induced Assembly of a Nanocomposite for "Press-N-Go" Coatings with Highly Efficient Surface Disinfection.

Using antimicrobial coatings to control the spread of pathogenic microbes is appreciated in public and healthcare settings, but the performance of most antimicrobial coatings could not fulfill the increasing requirements, particularly the ease of preparation, high durability, rapid response, and high killing efficiency. Herein, we develop a new type of mechano-induced assembly of nanocomposite coating by simple "Press-N-Go" procedures on various substrates such as glassware, gloves, and fabrics, in which the coating shows strong adhesion, high shear stability, and high stiffness, making it durable in daily use to withstand common mechanical deformation and scratches. The coating also shows remarkable disinfection effectiveness over 99.

Particulate-Aggregated Adhesives with Exudate-Sensitive Properties and Sustained Bacteria Disinfection to Facilitate Wound Healing.

Wound-associated infections create additional suffering and come at a high cost for patients and their families, which urgently require wound disinfection biomaterials with improved healing efficacy. Here, we report an adhesive with sustained bacteria disinfection ability, which is aggregated from hydrogen-bonded polymer particulates. The particulate-aggregated adhesive shows strong binding ability on different surfaces from rigid substrates to soft skins.

Mucus-Inspired Supramolecular Adhesives with Oil-Regulated Molecular Configurations and Long-Lasting Antibacterial Properties.

Inspired by mucus, which provides an ideal supramolecular model and whose fluid-like (viscous) and solid-like (elastic) behaviors can be adjusted to meet different physiological requirements, we report oil-regulated supramolecular adhesives by the co-assembly of polyurea oligomers and carvacrol oils. The adhesive is crosslinked by weak but abundant hydrogen bonds, which can be regulated by the incorporated carvacrol oils through the competition of intermolecular hydrogen bonds, presenting a unique set of mucus-mimicking features including oil-regulated mechanics, processability, reusable adhesivity, and extreme longevity in both air and water. Owing to the intrinsic bactericidal effect of the carvacrol oils, the developed adhesives can serve as potent antibacterial coatings with both rapid contact killing (99.

Dual-Cross-Linked Supramolecular Polysiloxanes for Mechanically Tunable, Damage-Healable and Oil-Repellent Polymeric Coatings.

Polymeric coatings that show tunable mechanical strength, healing ability of mechanical damage, and proper liquid repellency will be promising in various areas across life and industry. However, the exploitation of such coating materials is largely limited by their molecular design. In this work, polymeric coatings with ion-controlled mechanics and coloration and damage-healing and oil-sliding properties have been demonstrated based on a supramolecular design of dual-cross-linked polysiloxanes.

Up-to-date vaccine delivery systems: robust immunity elicited by multifarious nanomaterials upon administration through diverse routes.

In this review, we summarize the recent design strategies (2015-present) of nanomaterial-based vaccine delivery systems via multiple routes to induce robust protective immunity. The selected topics are focused on the novel design strategies of nanomaterial carriers for vaccine delivery. Inspired by recent advances, we also briefly introduce the emerging administration routes that may give rise to synergistic immune effects with advanced delivery systems.

Facile preparation of carbon-dot-supported nanoflowers for efficient photothermal therapy of cancer cells.

Herein, novel self-assembled red-emissive C-dots@Au nanoflowers were developed, and they demonstrated efficient photothermal properties under 750 nm laser irradiation. Moreover, C-dots@Au nanoflowers showed the ability of simultaneous photoacoustic and fluorescence imaging. Our study may provide a novel strategy for the efficient phototherapy of cancer cells based on C-dots.