Organic-Inorganic Copolymerization Induced Oriented Crystallization for Robust Lightweight Porous Composite.

Porous composites are important in engineering fields for their lightweight, thermal insulation, and mechanical properties. However, increased porosity commonly decreases the robustness, making a trade-off between mechanics and weight. Optimizing the strength of solid structure is a promising way to co-enhance the robustness and lightweight properties.

High Mechanical Strength Alloy-like Minerals Prepared by Inorganic Ionic Co-cross-linking.

Alloys often combine different metals to generate superior mechanical properties. However, it is challenging to prepare high mechanical strength minerals with similar strategies. Using calcium carbonate (CaC) and calcium phosphate (CaP) as examples, this work synthesizes a group of compounds with the chemical formulas Ca(CO ) (PO ) (0 < x < 1, CaCPs) by cross-linking ionic oligomers.

Microalgae-material hybrid for enhanced photosynthetic energy conversion: a promising path towards carbon neutrality.

Photosynthetic energy conversion for high-energy chemicals generation is one of the most viable solutions in the quest for sustainable energy towards carbon neutrality. Microalgae are fascinating photosynthetic organisms, which can directly convert solar energy into chemical energy and electrical energy. However, microalgal photosynthetic energy has not yet been applied on a large scale due to the limitation of their own characteristics.

Immunization against Zika by entrapping live virus in a subcutaneous self-adjuvanting hydrogel.

The threat of new viral outbreaks has heightened the need for ready-to-use vaccines that are safe and effective. Here we show that a subcutaneous vaccine consisting of live Zika virus electrostatically entrapped in a self-adjuvanting hydrogel recruited immune cells at the injection site and provided mice with effective protection against a lethal viral challenge. The hydrogel prevented the escape of the viral particles and upregulated pattern recognition receptors that activated innate antiviral immunity.

A Flexible and Degradable Hybrid Mineral as a Plastic Substitute.

The development of environmentally friendly plastics is critical to ensure sustainable development. In contrast to polymer plastics derived from petrochemicals, inorganic minerals, which are the most abundant matter in Earth's crust, are environmentally friendly. However, the brittleness of these minerals limits their applications as plastics.

Crosslinking ionic oligomers as conformable precursors to calcium carbonate.

Inorganic materials have essential roles in society, including in building construction, optical devices, mechanical engineering and as biomaterials. However, the manufacture of inorganic materials is limited by classical crystallization, which often produces powders rather than monoliths with continuous structures. Several precursors that enable non-classical crystallization-such as pre-nucleation clusters, dense liquid droplets, polymer-induced liquid precursor phases and nanoparticles-have been proposed to improve the construction of inorganic materials, but the large-scale application of these precursors in monolith preparations is limited by availability and by practical considerations.

Improving the Charge Carrier Transport and Suppressing Recombination of Soluble Squaraine-Based Solar Cells via Parallel-Like Structure.

Small molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs) have attracted extensive attention in recent years. Squaraine (SQ) is a kind of small molecule material for potential use in high-efficiency devices, because of its high extinction coefficient and low-cost synthesis. However, the charge carrier mobility of SQ-based film is much lower than other effective materials, which leads to the pretty low fill factor (FF).

Biomimetic inorganic camouflage circumvents antibody-dependent enhancement of infection.

Pre-existing antibodies can aggravate disease during subsequent infection or vaccination the mechanism of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infection. Herein, using dengue virus (DENV) as a model, we present a versatile surface-camouflage strategy to obtain a virus core-calcium phosphate shell hybrid by self-templated biomineralization. The shelled DENV stealthily avoids recognition by pre-existing antibodies under extracellular conditions, resulting in the efficient abrogation of the ADE of infection both and .

Improving the photovoltaic performance of planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells by mixed solvent vapor treatment.

The grain size of perovskite films is a key factor to optimize the performance of perovskite photovoltaic devices. Herein, a new route is developed in this paper to prepare CHNHPbI (MAPbI) films with a better morphology and crystallization. This method includes the spin coating deposition of perovskite films with a precursor solution of PbI and CHNHI at the molar ratio 1 : 1 and thermal annealing (TA).

Improvement in the Photobiological Hydrogen Production of Aggregated Chlorella by Dimethyl Sulfoxide.

Photobiological hydrogen production plays a vital role in generating clean renewable energy owing to its low energy consumption and environmental friendliness. Although materials-induced Chlorella aggregates have been developed to achieve sustained photobiological hydrogen production under normal aerobic conditions, the yield is relatively low and equals only 0.42 % of the light-to-H energy-conversion efficiency.

Long-term Effect of Biomineralized Insulin Nanoparticles on Type 2 Diabetes Treatment.

Intracellular insulin may exhibit a long-term effect in regulating protein synthesis, DNA synthesis, and gene transcription. However, the intracellular delivery of insulin is a great challenge. Here, we describe how a simple biomineralization modification of insulin can transport it into intact cells on a large scale, leading to a long-term therapeutic effect on diabetes mellitus.

Prevention of Cyanobacterial Blooms Using Nanosilica: A Biomineralization-Inspired Strategy.

Cyanobacterial blooms represent a significant threat to global water resources because blooming cyanobacteria deplete oxygen and release cyanotoxins, which cause the mass death of aquatic organisms. In nature, a large biomass volume of cyanobacteria is a precondition for a bloom, and the cyanobacteria buoyancy is a key parameter for inducing the dense accumulation of cells on the water surface. Therefore, blooms will likely be curtailed if buoyancy is inhibited.

Switchable Chiral Selection of Aspartic Acids by Dynamic States of Brushite.

We herein show the chiral recognition and separation of aspartic acid (Asp) enantiomers by achiral brushite due to the asymmetries of their dynamical steps in its nonequilibrium states. Growing brushite has a higher adsorption affinity to d-Asp, while l-Asp is predominant on the dissolving brushite surface. Microstructural characterization reveals that chiral selection is mainly attributed to brushite [101] steps, which exhibit two different configurations during crystal growth and dissolution, respectively, with each preferring a distinct enantiomer due to this asymmetry.

Protection of Photosynthetic Algae against Ultraviolet Radiation by One-Step CeO Shellization.

Photosynthetic microalgae play an important role in solar-to-chemical energy conversion on Earth, but the increasing solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation seriously reduces the biological photosynthesis. Here, we developed a one-step approach to construct cell-in-shell hybrid structure by using direct adsorption of CeO nanoparticles onto cells. The engineered CeO nanoshell can efficiently protect the enclosed Chlorella cell due to its excellent UV filter property, which can also eliminate UV-induced oxidative stress.

Cells Recognize and Prefer Bone-like Hydroxyapatite: Biochemical Understanding of Ultrathin Mineral Platelets in Bone.

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanocrystallites in all types of bones are distinguished by their ultrathin characteristics, which are uniaxially oriented with fibrillar collagen to uniquely expose the (100) faces. We speculate that living organisms prefer the specific crystal morphology and orientation of HAP because of the interactions between cells and crystals at the mineral-cell interface. Here, bone-like platy HAP (p-HAP) and two different rod-like HAPs were synthesized to investigate the ultrathin mineral modulating effect on cell bioactivity and bone generation.

Shape-Controlled Synthesis of All-Inorganic CsPbBr Perovskite Nanocrystals with Bright Blue Emission.

We developed a colloidal synthesis of CsPbBr perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) at a relative low temperature (90 °C) for the bright blue emission which differs from the original green emission (∼510 nm) of CsPbBr nanocubes as reported previously. Shapes of the obtained CsPbBr NCs can be systematically engineered into single and lamellar-structured 0D quantum dots, as well as face-to-face stacking 2D nanoplatelets and flat-lying 2D nanosheets via tuning the amounts of oleic acid (OA) and oleylamine (OM). They exhibit sharp excitonic PL emissions at 453, 472, 449, and 452 nm, respectively.

Biomineralized vaccine nanohybrid for needle-free intranasal immunization.

Frequent outbreaks and the rapid global spread of infectious diseases have increased the urgent need for massive vaccination especially in countries with limited resources. Intranasal vaccination facilitates the mass vaccination via needle-free delivery of vaccine through nasal mucosal surfaces. Inspired by the strong capability of calcium phosphate (CaP) materials to adhere to cells and tissues, we propose to improve nasal vaccination by using a biomineralization-based strategy.

Highly Efficient p-i-n Perovskite Solar Cells Utilizing Novel Low-Temperature Solution-Processed Hole Transport Materials with Linear π-Conjugated Structure.

Alternative low-temperature solution-processed hole-transporting materials (HTMs) without dopant are critical for highly efficient perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, two novel small molecule HTMs with linear π-conjugated structure, 4,4'-bis(4-(di-p-toyl)aminostyryl)biphenyl (TPASBP) and 1,4'-bis(4-(di-p-toyl)aminostyryl)benzene (TPASB), are applied as hole-transporting layer (HTL) by low-temperature (sub-100 °C) solution-processed method in p-i-n PSCs. Compared with standard poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) HTL, both TPASBP and TPASB HTLs can promote the growth of perovskite (CH NH PbI ) film consisting of large grains and less grain boundaries.

The Effects of Improved Photoelectric Properties of PEDOT:PSS by Two-Step Treatments on the Performance of Polymer Solar Cells Based on PTB7-Th:PC(71)BM.

Unlabelled: In this paper, we present a smart two-step treated method to simultaneously improve the work function, conductivity, and transmittance of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (

Pedot: PSS). With the two-step treated

Pedot: PSS, the short-circuit current density of polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on PTB7-Th:PC71BM increases from 13.41 to 22.

Intracellular delivery of biomineralized monoclonal antibodies to combat viral infection.

Conventional therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are invalid for intracellular viruses but by using in situ biomineralization treatment, they can be successfully delivered into cells to inhibit intracellular viral replication. This achievement significantly expands the applications of mAbs and provides a new intracellular strategy to control viral infections.

Improved performances of PCDTBT:PC71BM BHJ solar cells through incorporating small molecule donor.

We demonstrate bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.39% by incorporating a small molecular compound 2-[4-(N-butyl-N-phenylamino)-2,6-dihydroxyphenyl]-4-[(4-(N-butyl-N-phenylamino)-2,6-dihydroxyphenyl)-2,5-dien-1-ylidene]-3-oxocyclobut-1-en-1-olate (SQ-BP) as the additional donor material into a poly[[9-(1-octylnonyl)-9H-carbazole-2,7-diyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-4,7-diyl-2,5-thiophenediyl] (PCDTBT):[6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) host binary blend. Incorporating SQ-BP into the PCDTBT:PC71BM host blend film increases the photon harvesting of a ternary photovoltaic device with a broad absorption spectrum from 300 nm to 750 nm, which results in an increased short-circuit current density (Jsc).

Silicification-induced cell aggregation for the sustainable production of H2 under aerobic conditions.

Photobiological hydrogen production is of great importance because of its promise for generating clean renewable energy. In nature, green algae cannot produce hydrogen as a result of the extreme sensitivity of hydrogenase to oxygen. However, we find that silicification-induced green algae aggregates can achieve sustainable photobiological hydrogen production even under natural aerobic conditions.

High efficient multifunctional Ag3PO4 loaded hydroxyapatite nanowires for water treatment.

Organic, inorganic, and biological pollutants are typical water contaminants and they seriously affect water quality. In this study, we suggested that a novel multifunctional Ag3PO4 loaded hydroxyapatite (HAP) material can remove the typical pollutants from water. The Ag3PO4/HAP composites were synthesized facilely via in-situ precipitation of Ag3PO4 on the pre-existing HAP nanowires.

The effect of amorphous calcium phosphate on protein protection against thermal denaturation.

The hybrid nanoparticles of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP)-catalase (CAT) developed by in situ biomineralization can create a stable semi-aqueous nanoscale environment for entrapped proteins against thermal denaturation. This finding indicates the importance of an amorphous mineral phase in the preservation of organic macromolecules.