Underwater Superoleophobic and Transparent Films with Mechanical Robustness and High Durability in Harsh Environments.

Underwater superoleophobic and transparent (UST) films are promising in applications, such as advanced optical devices in marine environments. However, the mechanical robustness and durability in harsh environments of the existing UST films are still unsatisfactory. In this work, we present a free-standing nacre-inspired mineralized UST (NIM-UST) film with high aragonite content and excellent mechanical properties toward robust underwater superoleophobicity on two surfaces and transparency (94%) in harsh seawater environments.

Advances in the use of nanotechnology for treating gout.

Gout is a commonly occurring form of inflammatory arthritis caused by persistently elevated levels of uric acid. Its incidence rate rises with the increases of living standards and poor dietary habits, which has a considerable impact on the quality of life of the patients. Although there is a wide assortment of drugs available for the management of gout, the effectiveness and security of these drugs are limited by their poor chemical stability and insufficient targeting.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Carrying Viral Fusogenic Protein p14 to Treat Solid Tumors by Inducing Cell-Cell Fusion and Immune Activation.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-based immune cell therapies attack neighboring cancer cells after receptor recognition but are unable to directly affect distant tumor cells. This limitation may contribute to their inefficiency in treating solid tumors, given the restricted intratumoral infiltration and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Therefore, cell-cell fusion as a cell-killing mechanism might develop a novel cytotherapy aimed at improving the efficacy against solid tumors.

Erratum to "Sleep Promotion by 3-Hydroxy-4-iminobutyric Acid in Walnut ".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.34133/research.0216.

A bionic 3D-printed hydrogel microneedle of composite mesh for abdominal wall defect repair.

The use of mesh repair is a frequently employed technique in the clinical management of abdominal wall defects. However, for intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM), the traditional mesh requires additional fixation methods, and these severely limit its application in the repair of abdominal wall defects. We drew inspiration from the adhesion properties of mussels for the present study, functionalized carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) with dopamine (DA), and added polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to the composite to further improve the wet adhesive ability of hydrogels.

Study on gas adsorption and separation performance of alkyl functionalized MOF materials under wet conditions.

Metal-organic framework materials exhibit significant potential for diverse applications in gas adsorption and separation. We have studied the performance changes of Cu-BTC, Cu-MBTC and Cu-EBTC under different water-containing conditions. GCMC studies shows that, compared with Cu-BTC, the water absorption properties of Cu-MBTC and Cu-EBTC have a certain degree of decline, which is consistent with the experimental results.

Cellulose nanocrystal composite films for contactless moisture-electric conversion.

The ability to convert moisture signals into electrical signals through contactless control underpins a wide range of applications, including health monitoring, disaster warning, and energy harvesting. Despite its potential, the effective utilization of low-grade energy remains challenging, as it often requires complex device architectures that limit scalability and integration, particularly in wearable technologies. Here, we present a soft, flexible moisture-electric converter made from cellulose nanocrystals and polyvinyl alcohol composite films, designed for a novel touchless interactive platform.

Ethanol-induced ammonium polyphosphate-silver gel paint: breaking the trade-off between conductivity, flame retardancy and adhesion in single-layer functional coatings.

Electrical fires pose significant threats to the lives and property safety of people. Although utilizing coatings to impart conductivity and flame retardancy to materials is convenient and reliable, traditional layer-by-layer preparation methods have the limitations of cost, convenience and scalability. Therefore, a single-layer coating that simultaneously imparts excellent conductivity and flame retardancy to materials presents broader application prospects.

Dual-driven biodegradable nanomotors for enhanced cellular uptake.

Hybrid nano-sized motors with navigation and self-actuation capabilities have emerged as promising nanocarriers for a wide range of delivery, sensing, and diagnostic applications due to their unique ability to achieve controllable locomotion within a complex biological environment such as tissue. However, most current nanomotors typically operate using a single driving mode, whereas propulsion induced by both external and local stimuli could be more beneficial to achieve efficient motility in a biomedical setting. In this work, we present a hybrid nanomotor by functionalizing biodegradable stomatocytes with platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs).

Facile preparation, mechanochromic luminescence and excitation wavelength-dependent emission of tetra(1-benzo[]imidazol-2-yl)ethene Zn(II) complexes and their applications.

Nowadays, benzimidazole and its derivatives are widely assembled into multifunctional materials with various properties such as mechanochromism, photochromism, thermochromism and electrochromism. Herein, two novel zinc(II) coordination compounds, [Zn(L)Br]·2HO (1) and [Zn(L)Cl]·2HO (2) (L = tetra(1-benzo[]imidazol-2-yl)ethene), have been constructed one-pot facile synthesis from bis(1-benzo[]imidazol-2-yl)methane (L) and zinc(II) salts. The ligand L with a CC double bond was formed by C-C coupling of two sp-C atoms of L in solvothermal synthesis, which provides a new strategy to generate the conjugation system conveniently.

Metabolic Fingerprint of Dual Body Fluids Deciphers Diabetic Retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes, affecting 34.6% of diabetes patients worldwide. Early detection and timely treatment can effectively improve the prognosis of DR.

Decreasing the aggregation of photosensitizers to facilitate energy transfer for improved photodynamic therapy.

The mode of energy transfer between photosensitizers and oxygen determines the yield of singlet oxygen (O), crucial for photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, the aggregation of photosensitizers promotes electron transfer while inhibiting pure energy transfer, resulting in the generation of the hypotoxic superoxide anion (O) and consumption of substantial oxygen. Herein, we achieve the reduction of the aggregation of photosensitizers to inhibit electron transfer through classical chemical crosslinking, thereby boosting the production of O.

Superstrong Lightweight Aerogel with Supercontinuous Layer by Surface Reaction.

Breaking the thermal, mechanical and lightweight performance limit of aerogels has pivotal significance on thermal protection, new energy utilization, high-temperature catalysis, structural engineering, and physics, but is severely limited by the serious discrete characteristics between grain boundary and nano-units interfaces. Herein, a thermodynamically driven surface reaction and confined crystallization process is reported to synthesize a centimeter-scale supercontinuous ZrO nanolayer on ZrO-SiO fiber aerogel surface, which significantly improved its thermal and mechanical properties with density almost unchanged (≈26 mg cm). Systematic structure analysis confirms that the supercontinuous layer achieves a close connection between grains and fibers through Zr─O─Si bonds.

Self-assembled Gap-Rich PdMn Nanofibers with High Mass/Electron Transport Highways for Electrocatalytic Reforming of Waste Plastics.

Innovating nanocatalysts with both high intrinsic catalytic activity and high selectivity is crucial for multi-electron reactions, however, their low mass/electron transport at industrial-level currents is often overlooked, which usually leads to low comprehensive performance at the device level. Herein, a Cl/O etching-assisted self-assembly strategy is reported for synthesizing a self-assembled gap-rich PdMn nanofibers with high mass/electron transport highway for greatly enhancing the electrocatalytic reforming of waste plastics at industrial-level currents. The self-assembled PdMn nanofiber shows excellent catalytic activity in upcycling waste plastics into glycolic acid, with a high current density of 223 mA cm@0.

Biopolymer-Derived Carbon Materials for Wearable Electronics.

Advanced carbon materials are widely utilized in wearable electronics. Nevertheless, the production of carbon materials from fossil-based sources raised concerns regarding their non-renewability, high energy consumption, and the consequent greenhouse gas emissions. Biopolymers, readily available in nature, offer a promising and eco-friendly alternative as a carbon source, enabling the sustainable production of carbon materials for wearable electronics.

Activating Reversible V/V Redox Couple in NASICON-Type Phosphate Cathodes by High Entropy Substitution for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Vanadium-based Na superionic conductor (NASICON) type materials (NaVM(PO), M = transition metals) have attracted extensive attention when used as sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) cathodes due to their stable structures and large Na diffusion channels. However, the materials have poor electrical conductivity and mediocre energy density, which hinder their practical applications. Activating the V/V redox couple (V/V≈4.

Room-Temperature Selective Detection of H by Pd Nanoparticle-Decorated SnO@WO Core-Shell Hollow Structures.

Sensitive H sensors play key roles in the large-scale and safe applications of H. In this study, we developed novel ternary Pd-loaded SnO@WO core-shell structures by hydrothermal and reduction methods. The compositions of the optimized ternary core-shell structures (Pd-SW-2) are prepared on the basis of the optimal binary core-shell structures (SW-X) according to the sensing performances to H.

Dual-Source Evaporation Processed Novel NaBiS Absorber Material for Eco-Friendly and Stable Photovoltaics.

Exploring and developing novel, low-cost, and environmentally friendly photovoltaic materials is a vital trend in the evolution of solar cell technology. The distinctive properties of alkali bismuth ternary sulfides have spurred increased research and application in optoelectronic devices. In this study, a novel method is reported for preparing NaBiS film by sequential thermal evaporation of NaS and BiS layers followed by heating post-treatment for the first time, as well as the preparation of solar cells with NaBiS as the light-absorbing layer.

Deep-Learning-Enabled Fast Raman Identification of the Twist Angle of Bi-Layer Graphene.

Twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) has drawn considerable attention due to its angle-dependent electrical, optical, and mechanical properties, yet preparing and identifying samples at specific angles on a large scale remains challenging and labor-intensive. Here, a data-driven strategy that leverages Raman spectroscopy is proposed in combination with deep learning to rapidly and non-destructively decode and predict the twist angle of TBG across the full angular range. By processing high-dimensional Raman data, the deep learning model extracts hidden information to achieve precise twist angle identification.

Photo-enhanced UiO-66/Au Nanoparticles with High Phosphatase-Like Activity for Rapid Degradation and Detection of Paraoxon.

The severe environmental and human health hazards posed by organophosphorus compounds underscore the pressing need for advancements in their degradation and detection. However, practical implementation is impeded by prolonged degradation durations and limited efficiency. Herein, an effective interfacial modification approach is proposed involving the integration of photoactive Au nanoparticles (NPs) onto metal-organic frameworks, resulting in the synthesis of UiO-66/Au NPs exhibiting enhanced hydrolysis activity under light excitation.

Synergistically Enhanced Co-Adsorption of Reactant and Hydroxyl on Platinum-Modified Copper Oxide for High-Performance HMF Oxidation.

Electrochemical oxidation of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) provides an environmentally friendly route for producing the sustainable polymer monomer 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). Thus, precisely adjusting the synergistic adsorption among key reactive species, such as HMF and OH, on the carefully designed catalyst surface is essential for achieving satisfactory catalytic performance for HMF oxidation to FDCA as it is closely related to the adsorption strength and configuration of the reaction substrates. This kind of regulation will ultimately facilitate the improvement of HMF oxidation performance.

Nanoparticles modified with glucose analogs to enhance the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and their accumulation in the epileptic brain.

Drug delivery for epilepsy treatment faces enormous challenges, where the sole focus on enhancing the ability of drugs to penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) through ligand modification is insufficient because of the absence of seizure-specific drug accumulation. In this study, an amphipathic drug carrier with a glucose transporter (GLUT)-targeting capability was synthesised by conjugating 2-deoxy-2-amino-D-glucose (2-DG) to the model carrier DSPE-PEG. A 2-DG-modified nano drug delivery system (NDDS) possessing robust stability and favourable biocompatibility was then fabricated using the nanoprecipitation method.

Construction of a laccase/CeO/attapulgite nanocomposite for photoenzymatic catalytic CO reduction coupled with biomass oxidation.

Herein, a photoenzymatic synergistic catalytic material, laccase/CeO/attapulgite, was prepared for simultaneous CO conversion and biomass conversion. Based on the synergistic effect of the photoenzyme in the prepared composites, a remarkable CO (27.15 μmol g h) and CH (64.

Self-Supported α-MoB/β-MoB Ceramic Electrodes for Efficient High-Current-Density Hydrogen Evolution in Acidic, Neutral, and Alkaline pH-Values.

This paper describes the production and high-current-density hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance in the whole pH range (from acidic to basic pH values) of self-supported α-MoB/β-MoB ceramic electrodes, aiming for use in industrial electrocatalytic water splitting. Tape-casting and phase-inversion process, followed by sintering, were employed to synthesize self-supported β-MoB ceramic electrodes, which exhibited well arranged large finger-like pores, providing numerous active sites and channels for electrolyte entry and hydrogen release. The reaction between β-MoB and the sintering aid of MoO produces α-MoB/β-MoB heterojunctions, which significantly improve the electrocatalytic performance.