Agricultural and industrial wastes applied on the high performance energy storage devices.

Driven by population growth, the destruction of the environment and the energy demand continue to increase dramatically. This study uses garlic skin and carbon fiber from agricultural and industrial wastes to prepare energy storage devices. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were obtained from garlic skin using high-temperature pyrolysis.

Comparative pulmonary toxicity assessment of tungsten trioxide and tungsten trioxide hydrate nanoparticles.

Tungsten trioxide (WO)-based nanoparticles (NPs) are gaining popularity because of their exciting potential for photocatalytic applications; however, the toxic potential of WO-based NPs remains a concern. In this study, we evaluated the toxic risk of WO NPs and hydrated WO NPs (WO·HO NPs) using lung cells and explored the underlying mechanism. WO NPs and WO·HO NPs significantly decreased the number of viable cells (59.

Dopamine-Modified Zero-Valent Iron Nanoparticles for Dual-Modality Photothermal and Photodynamic Breast Cancer Therapy.

Phototherapy has the advantages of minimal invasion, few side effects, and improved accuracy for cancer therapy. The application of a polydopamine (PDA)-modified nano zero-valent iron (nZVI@PDA) as a new synergistic agent in combination with photodynamic/photothermal (PD/PT) therapy to kill cancer cells is discussed here. The nZVI@PDA offered high light-to-heat conversion and ROS generation efficiency under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation (808 nm), thus leading to irreversible damage to nZVI@PDA-treated MCF-7 cells at low concentration, without inducing apoptosis in normal cells.

Moth-Eye-Inspired Biophotonic Surfaces with Antireflective and Hydrophobic Characteristics.

In nature, in order to prevent attention from predators, the eyes of night-flying moths have evolutionarily developed an antireflective ability. The surfaces of their eyes are covered with a layer of a sub-wavelength structure that eliminates reflections of visible light. This layer allows the eyes of moths to escape detection in darkness, without reflections that could reveal the position of the moths to potential predators.

Tunable sensitivity phase detection of transmitted-type dual-channel guided-mode resonance sensor based on phase-shift interferometry.

This paper reports on a transmitted-type dual-channel guided-mode resonance (GMR) sensor system that uses phase-shifting interferometry (PSI) to achieve tunable phase detection sensitivity. Five interference images are captured for the PSI phase calculation within ∼15  s by using a liquid crystal retarder and a USB web camera. The GMR sensor structure is formed by a nanoimprinting process, and the dual-channel sensor device structure for molding is fabricated using a 3D printer.

Fabrication and characterization of artificial miniaturized insect compound eyes for imaging.

Polystyrene (PS) microspheres are synthesized by dispersion polymerization, and a close-packed two-dimensional (2D) array of the PS microspheres is formed by the self-assembly method through dip drawing under magnetic stirring. This array is then used to fabricate a 2D polydimethylsiloxane concave mold by soft lithography. The mold is employed to produce convex polymethylmethacrylate-based compound eye-replicating films of different hemispherical heights by thermopressing.

Tunable phase detection sensitivity of transmitted-type guided-mode resonance sensor in a heterodyne interferometer.

A transmitted-type guided-mode resonance (GMR) sensor is presented for using an electro-optic heterodyne interferometer to tune phase detection sensitivity. The GMR grating waveguide structure is fabricated using a low-cost nanoimprinting SiO(2) sol-gel process and sputtering TiO(2) film. The phase properties of the GMR sensor are numerically investigated to verify its phase detection capability in a heterodyne interferometer.

Preparation and evaluation of the bioinspired PS/PDMS photochromic films by the self-assembly dip-drawing method.

Emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization was employed to synthesize polystyrene (PS) microspheres, which were then self-assembled into an ordered periodic structure. A photochromic film was formed by adding polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) around the self-assembly of PS microspheres on a PDMS substrate. During polymerization, the PS microspheres shrunk depending on the amount of the hydrophilic comonomer, sodium 4-styrenesulfonate (NaSS).