Enhancing photocatalytic antibiotics mineralization and water oxidation via constructing interfacial electric field in plate-on-plate BiOCl/WO photocatalysts.

Two-dimensional materials and related plate-on-plate interfacial heterostructures offer great flexibility for integrating different atomic layers, providing an attractive scheme for the construction of built-in electric fields in photocatalysts. Here, we developed an interfacial engineering strategy to construct well-interfaced plate-on-plate BiOCl/WO heterojunctions for general enhanced photocatalytic oxidation reactions. BiOCl/WO heterojunctions exhibited significant enhancements in oxygen evolution and antibiotic degradation, with a rate of 9.

Green and controllable synthesis of kelp-like carbon nitride nanosheets via an ultrasound-mediated self-assembly strategy.

The application of graphite carbon nitride photocatalysts is hampered by their low specific surface areas, few active sites, and low photogenerated electron-hole transfer rates. Here, we report a green and controllable strategy for synthesizing kelp-like carbon nitride nanosheets through self-assembled materials prepared from melamine and trithiocyanuric acid using sonochemistry. The prepared carbon nitride nanosheets showed superior and long-lasting photocatalytic activity in hydrogen evolution and the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride.

Recent advances of microneedles for biomedical applications: drug delivery and beyond.

The microneedle (MN), a highly efficient and versatile device, has attracted extensive scientific and industrial interests in the past decades due to prominent properties including painless penetration, low cost, excellent therapeutic efficacy, and relative safety. The robust microneedle enabling transdermal delivery has a paramount potential to create advanced functional devices with superior nature for biomedical applications. In this review, a great effort has been made to summarize the advance of microneedles including their materials and latest fabrication method, such as three-dimensional printing (3DP).

trans-cis Configuration regulated supramolecular polymer gels and chirality transfer based on a bolaamphiphilic histidine and dicarboxylic acids.

Supramolecular polymer gels based on the co-assembly of bolaamphiphilic l-histidine(BolaHis) and dicarboxylic acids are dependent on the molar ratios, flexibility and cis-trans configuration of acid molecules. Thus, oligomerized rigid cis-maleic acid or flexible trans-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid can form chiral supramolecular polymer gels with l-BolaHis.

The alloying effect and AgCl-directing growth for synthesizing a trimetallic nanoring with improved SERS.

We report the synthesis of high quality trimetallic Au/Ag/Pt nanorings (TAAPNs) by using Au/Ag alloy decahedra (AAAD) as templates. The alloying effect and AgCl-directing growth have been investigated in detail during the formation of TAAPN. It was found that the doping of Ag in AAAD changes the surrounding environment of Au atoms and decreases the oxidization reduction potential (ORP) of [AuCl(2)](-)/Au because of the alloying effect, resulting in the dissolved O(2) molecules that serve as an effective etchant for oxidizing Au to Au(I).

Growth of nanobipyramid by using large sized Au decahedra as seeds.

Au nanobipyramids (NBPs) are important nanostructures which attract much attention due to their unique structure, optical, and catalytic properties. The controlled synthesis of Au NBPs and corresponding mechanistic study are highly desirable for both fundamental research and practical applications. Herein, we demonstrate a strategy that large sized Au decahedra with well-defined shape act as seeds for growing NBPs.