A wearable AuNP enhanced metal-organic gel (Au@MOG) sensor for sweat glucose detection with ultrahigh sensitivity.

The demand for sensitive and non-invasive sensors for monitoring glucose levels in sweat has grown considerably in recent years. This study presents the development of a wearable sensor for sweat glucose detection with ultrahigh sensitivity. The sensor was fabricated by embedding Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) and metal-organic gels (MOGs) on nickel foam (NF).

Tunable Gas-Gas Reactions through Nanobubble Pathway.

Combustible gas-gas reactions usually do not occur spontaneously upon mixing without ignition or other triggers to lower the activation energy barrier. Nanobubbles, however, could provide such a possibility in solution under ambient conditions due to high inner pressure and catalytic radicals within their boundary layers. Herein, a tunable gas-gas reaction strategy via bulk nanobubble pathway is developed by tuning the interface charge of one type of bulk nanobubble and promoting its fusion and reaction with another, where the reaction-accompanied size and number concentration change of the bulk nanobubbles and the corresponding thermal effect clearly confirm the occurrence of the nanobubble-based H /O combustion.

Au@bovine serum albumin nanoparticle-based acid-resistant nanozyme quartz crystal microbalance sensing of urine glucose.

A robust, efficient and sensitive quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) for glucose detection has been constructed using Au@bovine serum albumin (Au@BSA) nanoparticles as an active layer. The nanoparticles serve as tandem nanozymes and their stability over natural enzymes enable the sensor to show a wider linear dynamic range between 0.05 and 15 mM, a higher acid-resistance (pH 2.

High-efficiency mechanically assisted alkaline extraction of nanoparticles from biological tissues for spICP-MS analysis.

The widespread use and increased exposure of nanoparticles call for technology to quantify their concentration and size distribution in biological matrices. As ex situ evaluation, facile extraction with high fidelity and efficiency is critical. In this work, single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) was used for nanoparticle number and distribution analysis, where a facile and highly efficient mechanically assisted alkaline digestion has been developed to extract nanoparticles at low alkali concentration.

Metal organic complexes as an artificial solid-electrolyte interface with Zn-ion transfer promotion for long-life zinc metal batteries.

Metal organic complexes as an artificial solid-electrolyte interface (MOC-SEI) have been generated coordinative polymerization between Zn and organic ligand molecules. Compared to conventional anodes, the MOC-SEI coated anode significantly prolongs the lifespan from 100 h to 1450 h for the Zn||Zn symmetrical cells and increases the reversible capacity up to 160 mA h g after 1100 cycles for the Zn||VO full-cells.

Nanobubble boundary layer thickness quantified by solvent relaxation NMR.

Hypothesis: The boundary layer holds the key to solve the puzzle of the unusual stability of the nanobubbles in solution. The quantitative determination on its mechanical and structural properties has not been achieved due to its diffusive and dynamic nature, lack of distinctive interfaces, and difficult differentiation from bulk background. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate this boundary using more sensitive interface analysis technologies to effectively differentiate the water molecules at the interface from those in the bulk.

Recent development for biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles.

In recent decades, the use of engineered nanoparticles has been increasing in various sectors, including biomedicine, diagnosis, water treatment, and environmental remediation leading to significant public concerns. Among these nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have gained many attentions in medicine, pharmacology, drug delivery system, molecular imaging, and bio-sensing due to their various properties. In addition, various studies have reviewed MNPs main applications in the biomedical engineering area with intense progress and recent achievements.

From dendritic mesoporous silica microspheres to waxberry-like hierarchical hollow carbon spheres: rational design of carbon host for lithium sulfur batteries.

Fabricating sulfur host for the cathode with strong confinement effect and high dispersion of sulfur is vitally important to the development of high-performance lithium sulfur batteries. Benefiting from their unique and tunable structure, good conductivity and chemical inertness, hollow porous carbon materials has been considered as a promising candidate. Herein, precisely designed waxberry-like hierarchical hollow carbon spheres (h-CNS) have been synthesized as the sulfur micro-containers for lithium sulfur batteries.

Estimation of non-constant variance in isothermal titration calorimetry using an ITC measurement model.

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is the gold standard for accurate measurement of thermodynamic parameters in solution reactions. In the data processing of ITC, the non-constant variance of the heat requires special consideration. The variance function approach has been successfully applied in previous studies, but is found to fail under certain conditions in this work.

Chirality reversal, enhancement and transfer by pH-adjusted surfactant assembly.

The controllable chirality reversal and enhancement at a supramolecular level is crucial for the synthesis and applications of circularly active materials, which has been achieved by a pH-adjusted amphiphilic chiral surfactant assembly approach, and reveals the relationship between the chirality behavior and its assembly morphology in a non-covalent interaction regime and its ability to transfer chirality from chiral molecules to achiral ones under appropriate conditions.

Complementary autophagy inhibition and glucose metabolism with rattle-structured polydopamine@mesoporous silica nanoparticles for augmented low-temperature photothermal therapy and photoacoustic imaging.

Rattle-structured nanoparticles with movable cores, porous shells and hollow interiors have shown great effectiveness in drug delivery and cancer theranostics. Targeting autophagy and glucose have provided alternative strategies for cancer intervention therapy. Herein, rattle-structured polydopamine@mesoporous silica nanoparticles were prepared for photoacoustic (PA) imaging and augmented low-temperature photothermal therapy (PTT) via complementary autophagy inhibition and glucose metabolism.

The Role of the OH Group in Citric Acid in the Coordination with FeO Nanoparticles.

The role of the C?OH group in citric acid (CA) in the molecular coordination with FeO nanoparticles (NPs) has been elusive for a long time. In this study, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectral deconvolution and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) have been used to quantitatively clarify its significance in CA adsorption and its corresponding conformation. The experimental results show that the coordination and the corresponding conformation are exclusively determined by COOH not C?OH at pH 3, where its adsorption behavior conforms to the Brunauer?Emmett?Teller (BET) multilayer model with a maximal monolayer coordination number of 2.

Complex to simple: In vitro exposure of particulate matter simulated at the air-liquid interface discloses the health impacts of major air pollutants.

Particulate matter (PM) exposure poses many adverse effects on human health. However, it is challenging to clearly differentiate between the contributions of individual pollutants on toxicity from complex mixtures of ambient air pollutants. The aim of this study is to generate aerosols constituted by silica nanoparticles (NPs) and bisulfate to serve as simulators of particle-associated high-sulfur air pollution.

Auto-fluorescent polymer nanotheranostics for self-monitoring of cancer therapy via triple-collaborative strategy.

Aberrant regulation of angiogenesis supply sufficient oxygen and nutrients to exacerbate tumor progression and metastasis. Taking this hallmark of cancer into account, reported here is a self-monitoring and triple-collaborative therapy system by auto-fluorescent polymer nanotheranostics which could be concurrently against angiogenesis and tumor cell growth by combining the benefits of anti-angiogenesis, RNA interfere and photothermal therapy (PTT). Auto-fluorescent amphiphilic polymer polyethyleneimine-polylactide (PEI-PLA) with positive charge can simultaneously load hydrophobic antiangiogenesis agent combretastatin A4 (CA4), NIR dye IR825 and absorb negatively charged heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) inhibitor (siRNA against HSP70) to construct self-monitoring nanotheranostics (NPICS).

Effects of Hollow CeO₂ Nanospheres on Flame Retardance and Smoke Suppression of Room-Temperature-Vulcanized Silicone Rubber.

The effects of hollow CeO₂ nanospheres on the flame-retardance and smoke-suppression properties of room-temperature-vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber were studied. It was observed that the flame retardance of RTV silicone rubber composites was improved by hollow CeO₂ nanospheres. Surprisingly, the nanospheres also enhanced the smoke-suppression characteristics of the composites.

Conformation-Dependent Coordination of Carboxylic Acids with FeO Nanoparticles Studied by ATR-FTIR Spectral Deconvolution.

The coordination of valeric acid (VA), glutaric acid (GA), and tricarballylic acid (TA) with Fe-OH on the FeO nanoparticle surface has been systematically studied to elucidate the effects of COOH, molecular configuration, and ligand concentration on the coordination by the combined use of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results show that the binding ability of the acids increases with the increase in the COOH number. Multiple conformations coexist for the dicarboxylic and tricarboxylic acid coordinated on the iron oxide NPs.

Size-dependent adsorption and its application in determining the number of surfactant molecule adsorbed on multimodal SiO particles by 2D-DCS.

Quantitative analysis using surfactant-particles interaction is the basis for many applications. In situ measurements of surfactant adsorption on nanoparticles are important to understanding adsorption kinetics. However, it is quite difficult to determine the individual numbers for each monomodal particles in a multimodal mixture system by current technologies.

Experimental and Modeling Studies on the Filtration of SiO Nanoparticles Aerosolized from Different Solvents.

The filtration performance of a fibrous filter in removing nano-SiO aerosols atomized using different solvents including methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, water, and the ethanol/water mixture has been investigated. Through discrete element method (DEM) simulation and filtration experiments, the efficiency variation caused by the combinative interaction of the particle-filter adhesion and interparticle attraction has been analyzed and verified. The adhesion force between the solvent-coated nanoparticles and the filter is considered as the key factor to influence their initial filtration efficiency and can be balanced by their interparticle interaction.

Rapid synthesis of nitrogen doped carbon dots and their application as a label free sensor array for simultaneous discrimination of multiple proteins.

In this work, we develop a facile one-step strategy for rapidly (within 1 min) preparing four kinds of nitrogen doped carbon dots (N-CDs) and construct a label free sensor array for protein discrimination. The monodispersed blue emitting N-CDs, with a quantum yield (QY) of about 7.6% (calibrated with quinine sulfate as the reference), were systematically characterized by using fluorescence spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and infrared spectroscopy (IR).

Synergetic Determination of Thermodynamic and Kinetic Signatures Using Isothermal Titration Calorimetry: A Full-Curve-Fitting Approach.

Thermodynamic and kinetic signatures are pivotal information for revealing the binding mechanisms of biomolecules, and they play an indispensable role in drug discovery and optimization. While noncalorimetric methods measure only a part of these signatures, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is considered to have the potential to acquire full signatures in an experiment. However, kinetic parameters are generally difficult to extract from ITC curves, as they are inevitably affected by the instrument-response function and the collateral heat of associated process during titrations.

In Situ Measurement of Surface Functional Groups on Silica Nanoparticles Using Solvent Relaxation Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

In situ analysis and study on the surface of nanoparticles (NPs) is a key to obtain their important physicochemical properties for the subsequent applications. Of them, most works focus on the qualitative characterization whereas quantitative analysis and measurement on the NPs under their storage and usage conditions is still a challenge. In order to cope with this challenge, solvation relaxation-based nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology has been applied to measure the wet specific surface area and, therefore, determine the number of the bound water molecules on the surface of silica NPs in solution and the hydrophilic groups of various types grafted on the surface of the NPs.

Alloyed Crystalline Au-Ag Hollow Nanostructures with High Chemical Stability and Catalytic Performance.

For bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs), the degree of alloying is beginning to be recognized as a significant factor affecting the NP properties. Here, we report an alloyed crystalline Au-Ag hollow nanostructure that exhibits a high catalytic performance, as well as structural and chemical stability. The Au-Ag alloyed hollow and porous nanoshell structures (HPNSs) with different morphologies and subnanoscale crystalline structures were synthesized by adjusting the size of the sacrificial Ag NPs via a galvanic replacement reaction.

Aggregated single-walled carbon nanotubes attenuate the behavioural and neurochemical effects of methamphetamine in mice.

Methamphetamine (METH) abuse is a serious social and health problem worldwide. At present, there are no effective medications to treat METH addiction. Here, we report that aggregated single-walled carbon nanotubes (aSWNTs) significantly inhibited METH self-administration, METH-induced conditioned place preference and METH- or cue-induced relapse to drug-seeking behaviour in mice.

Fast assembling microarrays of superparamagnetic Fe3O4@Au nanoparticle clusters as reproducible substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

It is currently a very active research area to develop new types of substrates which integrate various nanomaterials for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) techniques. Here we report a unique approach to prepare SERS substrates with reproducible performance. It features silicon mold-assisted magnetic assembling of superparamagnetic Fe3O4@Au nanoparticle clusters (NCs) into arrayed microstructures on a wafer scale.

[Detection of Plasmodium falciparum by using magnetic nanoparticles separation-based quantitative real-time PCR assay].

Objective: To establish a magnetic nanoparticles separation-based quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR) assay for fast and accurate detection of Plasmodium falciparum and providing a technical support for improving the control and prevention of imported malaria.

Methods: According to the conserved sequences of the P. falciparum genome 18SrRNA, the species-specific primers and probe were designed and synthetized.