Na(CHN)[Zn(PO)(HPO)]: A Short-Wave Ultraviolet Open-Framework Zincophosphate Exhibiting Substantial Optical Dispersion Ability.

The exploration of short-wave ultraviolet (SUV; λ < 280 nm) transparent phosphates with substantial birefringence is crucial for the advancement of SUV laser industry. Despite their SUV transparency and potential for constructing materials with large birefringence, open-framework (OF) phosphates have rarely been explored for their birefringent properties. Herein, through a systematic exploration in this field, a new ethylenediamine-based OF zincophosphate, Na(CHN)[Zn(PO)(HPO)] (NEZPO), has been developed.

Driving the Future with Photocatalytic Solar Fuels.

Tierui Zhang is a full Professor in Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the director of Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, CAS. He is associate editor of Science Bulletin and also serves as an editorial board member for several peer-reviewed journals including Advanced Energy Materials, ChemPhysChem, Scientific Reports, and Solar RRL. He has published more than 200 papers in refereed SCI journals, including Nat.

Photo-triggered gadofullerene: enhanced cancer therapy by combining tumor vascular disruption and stimulation of anti-tumor immune responses.

Efficient treatment of primary tumor and preventing cancer metastasis present intriguing alternatives to cancer therapy. Herein, for the first time, we reported the photo-triggered nano-gadofullerene (Gd@C-Ala, abbreviated Gd-Ala) induced malignant tumor vascular disruption by shortening the light interval between Gd-Ala administration and light illumination, where oxygen in blood vessels was employed efficiently to produce cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). The produced ROS could not only destroy the tumor cells but also devastate the vascular endothelial cells corresponding to the loss of intercellular junctions and vessels disruption.

Water-Soluble Polythiophene for Two-Photon Excitation Fluorescence Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer.

Positively charged water-soluble polythiophene (PT0) that could self-assemble into nanoparticles in pure water solution was designed and synthesized. PT0 exhibited high photostabilities and pH stabilities, excellent biocompatibility, strong O generation capability, and large two-photon absorption cross sections. Moreover, we showed that the fluorescence of PT0 was unaffected by the interference of biomolecules and metal ions.

A macromolecular cyclometalated gold(iii) amphiphile displays long-lived emissive excited state in water: self-assembly and in vitro photo-toxicity.

We report an amphiphilic macromolecule containing a cyclometalated gold(iii) complex that self-assembles into nano-sized micelles and also displays a long-lived emissive triplet excited state with a lifetime of 84 μs in degassed water. This amphiphilic Au complex exhibits good biocompatibility and activity towards in vitro photo-toxicity, as well as enhanced permeability and retention effects in vivo.

A Versatile and Clearable Nanocarbon Theranostic Based on Carbon Dots and Gadolinium Metallofullerene Nanocrystals.

Nanocarbons such as carbon nanotubes, graphene derivatives, and carbon nanohorns have illustrated their potential uses as cancer theranostics owing to their intrinsic fluorescence or NIR absorbance as well as superior cargo loading capacity. However, some problems still need to be addressed, such as the fates and long-term toxicology of different nanocarbons in vivo and the improvement of their performance in various biomedical imaging-guided cancer therapy systems. Herein, a versatile and clearable nanocarbon theranostic based on carbon dots (CDs) and gadolinium metallofullerene nanocrystals (GFNCs) is first developed, in which GFNCs enhance the tumor accumulation of CDs, and CDs enhance the relaxivity of GFNCs, leading to an efficient multimodal imaging-guided photodynamic therapy in vivo without obvious long-term toxicity.

Fullerene/photosensitizer nanovesicles as highly efficient and clearable phototheranostics with enhanced tumor accumulation for cancer therapy.

A novel phototheranostic platform based on tri-malonate derivative of fullerene C70 (TFC70)/photosensitizer (Chlorin e6, Ce6) nanovesicles (FCNVs) has been developed for effective tumor imaging and treatment. The FCNVs were prepared from amphiphilic TFC70-oligo ethylene glycol -Ce6 molecules. The developed FCNVs possessed the following advantages: (i) high loading efficiency of Ce6 (up to ∼57 wt%); (ii) efficient absorption in near-infrared light region; (iii) enhanced cellular uptake efficiency of Ce6 in vitro and in vivo; (iv) good biocompatibility and total clearance out from the body.

Selective elimination of the free fatty acid fraction from esterified fatty acids in rat plasma through chemical derivatization and immobilization on amino functionalized silica nano-particles.

A high throughput and low cost approach to separate free fatty acids (FFAs) from phospholipid and acylglycerols (esterified fatty acids, EFAs) has been demonstrated, which may be widely used as a sample preparation method in the metabolomics and lipid research. The optimal conditions for FFAs reacting with N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) only need 10min at room temperature to obtain a 93.5% yield of FFAs-NHS ester.

Area negative thermal expansion in a beryllium borate LiBeBO3 with edge sharing tetrahedra.

A very rare area negative thermal expansion phenomenon is observed in a newly discovered alkali beryllium borate LiBeBO3, which is characterized by [BeBO3]∞ double layers intraconnected by edge-sharing BeO4 tetrahedra. This unusual thermal behavior is attributed to the combined vibrational effects of the abnormal Be-O structures and Li(+) cations.

A graphene quantum dot photodynamic therapy agent with high singlet oxygen generation.

Clinical applications of current photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents are often limited by their low singlet oxygen ((1)O2) quantum yields, as well as by photobleaching and poor biocompatibility. Here we present a new PDT agent based on graphene quantum dots (GQDs) that can produce (1)O2 via a multistate sensitization process, resulting in a quantum yield of ~1.3, the highest reported for PDT agents.

Assembly of graphene nanosheets and SiO2 nanoparticles towards transparent, antireflective, conductive, and superhydrophilic multifunctional hybrid films.

A new approach for the fabrication of transparent, antireflective, conductive and superhydrophilic multifunctional hybrid films through the layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets and SiO(2) nanoparticles is reported. The RGO nanosheets, SiO(2) nanoparticles and films were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy, UV/Vis absorption spectrophotometry, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, contact angle/interface system, and a four-point probe. It was found that the graphene/SiO(2) hybrid films exhibited a significant increase in transmittance as compared with RGO films.

One-pot fabrication of noble-metal nanoparticles that are encapsulated in hollow silica nanospheres: dual roles of poly(acrylic acid).

An efficient and facile one-pot method was developed to fabricate noble-metal nanoparticles (NMNs; Au, Pt, PdO and Ag) that were encapsulated within hollow silica nanospheres (HSNs; NMNs@HSNs) with a size of about 100 nm. NMNs@HSNs were afforded in very high yields between 85-95 %. Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) polyelectrolyte played a dual role in the fabrication process, both as a core template of the HSNs and as a captor of the NMNs through coordination interactions between the COO(-) groups on the ammonium polyacrylate (APA) polyanionic chains and the empty orbital of the Au atom.

Preparation of birnessite-supported pt nanoparticles and their application in catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde.

Flaky and nanospherical birnessite and birnessite-supported Pt catalysts were successfully prepared and characterized by means of Xray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and N2 adsorption-desorption. Effects of the birnessite morphology and Pt reduction method on the catalytic activity for the complete oxidation of formaldehyde (HCHO) were investigated. It was found that flaky birnessite exhibited higher catalytic activity than nanospherical birnessite.

Amino-functionalized silica nanoparticles with center-radially hierarchical mesopores as ideal catalyst carriers.

Our previously fabricated amino-functionalized silica nanoparticles (NPs) with center-radially hierarchical mesopores (NH(2)-HMSNs) were purified by a filtration membrane and used as catalyst carriers in the current article. Noble metal NPs (Au, Pd, Pt and Au & Pt) with small sizes (3-8 nm) were successfully immobilized into the NH(2)-HMSNs via the deposition-precipitation method. These noble metal NPs with readily adjusted small sizes have high density and well-dispersed distribution on the surface of large mesopores of NH(2)-HMSNs.

Spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with hierarchical structures: synthesis and applications.

This paper reviews the progress made recently in synthesis and applications of spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with multilevel (hierarchical) structures. The spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with hierarchical structures are classified into four main structural categories that include (1) hollow mesoporous spheres, (2) core-in-(hollow porous shell) spheres, (3) hollow spheres with multiple porous shells and (4) hierarchically porous spheres. Due to the complex structures and being focused on spherical silica micro/nanomaterials, some novel methods based on the combination of two routine methods or two surfactants, and some special synthetic strategies are proposed to produce the spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with hierarchical structures.

Facile fabrication of hollow mesoporous silica nanospheres for superhydrophilic and visible/near-IR antireflection coatings.

A series of hierarchically mesostructured silica nanoparticles (MSNs) less than 100 nm in size were fabricated by means of a one-step synthesis using dodecanethiol (C(12)-SH) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the dual template, and trimethylbenzene (TMB) as the swelling agent. Silica nanoparticles with varied morphologies and structures, including mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable pore size, mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a thin solid shell, hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable cavity size, and hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a thin solid shell, were obtained by regulating the TMB/CTAB molar ratio and the stirring rate with the assistance of C(12)-SH. Silica particulate coatings were successfully fabricated by using MSNs with varied morphologies and structures as building block through layer-by-layer dip-coating on glass substrates.

A self-templated etching route to surface-rough silica nanoparticles for superhydrophobic coatings.

A simple, mild, and effective self-templated etching strategy has been developed to directly convert SiO(2) nanospheres into surface-rough SiO(2) (SR-SiO(2)) nanoparticles (NPs) by reaction with NaBH(4). Small SiO(2) NPs on the surface of SR-SiO(2) NPs can be tailored by carefully regulating the reaction time. SiO(2) nanospheres with varied sizes were etched under varied reaction conditions.

Hierarchically mesoporous silica nanoparticles: extraction, amino-functionalization, and their multipurpose potentials.

Hierarchically mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) with uniform morphology and structure and with a diameter of ca. 100-220 nm were facilely fabricated using water, ethanol and ethyl ether as cosolvents. Template extraction and amino-functionalization were performed toward the HMSNs.

Facile fabrication of hierarchically structured silica coatings from hierarchically mesoporous silica nanoparticles and their excellent superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity.

Silica coatings with hierarchical structures were prepared on glass substrates via layer-by-layer assembly using hierarchically mesoporous silica nanoparticles as building block. These coatings demonstrated excellent superhydrophilic properties. After hydrophobic modification, the obtained coatings exhibited hydrophobic properties in the measurements of water contact angles by employing contact-mode and drip-mode, respectively.