How to Coat the Inside of Narrow and Long Tubes with a Super‐Liquid‐Repellent Layer—A Promising Candidate for Antibacterial Catheters

Fouling of thin tubes is a major problem, leading to various infections and associated morbidities, while cleaning is difficult or even impossible. Here, a generic method is introduced to activate and coat the inside of meter‐long and at the same time thin (down to 1 mm) tubes with a super‐liquid‐repellent layer of nanofilaments, exhibiting even antibacterial properties. Activation is facilitated by pumping an oxidative Fenton solution through the tubes. Subsequent pumping of a silane solution renders the surface of the tubes super‐liquid‐repellent. The wide applicability of the method is demonstrated by coating stiff and flexible tubes made of polymers, inorganic/organic hybrids, metals, and ceramics. Coated medical catheters show excellent antibacterial properties. Notably, the nanofilaments retain their antibacterial properties even in the superhydrophilic state. These findings open new avenues toward the design of biocide‐free, antibacterial tubings and catheters.     

Chiral Octahydro‐Binaphthol Compound‐Based Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials for Circularly Polarized Electroluminescence with Superior EQE of 32.6% and Extremely Low Efficiency Roll‐Off

Circularly polarized organic light‐emitting diodes (CP‐OLEDs) are particularly favorable for the direct generation of CP light, and they demonstrate a promising application in 3D display. However, up to now, such CP devices have suffered from low brightness, insufficient efficiency, and serious efficiency roll‐off. In this study, a pair of octahydro‐binaphthol ( OBN )‐based chiral emitting enantiomers, (R/S)‐OBN‐Cz , are developed by ingeniously merging a chiral source and a luminophore skeleton. These chirality–acceptor–donor (C–A–D)‐type and rod‐like compounds concurrently generate thermally activated delayed fluorescence with a small ΔE_ST of 0.037 eV, as well as a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 92% and intense circularly polarized photoluminescence with dissymmetry factors (|g_PL|) of ≈2.0 × 10^?3 in thin films. The CP‐OLEDs based on (R/S)‐OBN‐Cz enantiomers not only display obvious circularly polarized electroluminescence signals with a |g_EL| of ≈2.0 × 10^?3, but also exhibit superior efficiencies with maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE_max) up to 32.6% and extremely low efficiency roll‐off with an EQE of 30.6% at 5000 cd m^?2, which are the best performances among the reported CP devices to date.     

Versatile Indolocarbazole‐Isomer Derivatives as Highly Emissive Emitters and Ideal Hosts for Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescent OLEDs with Alleviated Efficiency Roll‐Off

Maintaining high efficiency at high brightness levels is an exigent challenge for real‐world applications of thermally activated delayed fluorescent organic light‐emitting diodes (TADF‐OLEDs). Here, versatile indolocarbazole‐isomer derivatives are developed as highly emissive emitters and ideal hosts for TADF‐OLEDs to alleviate efficiency roll‐off. It is observed that photophysical and electronic properties of these compounds can be well modulated by varying the indolocarbazole isomers. A photoluminescence quantum yield (η_PL) approaching unity and a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE_max) of 25.1% are obtained for the emitter with indolo[3,2‐a]carbazolyl subunit. Remarkably, record‐high EQE/power efficiency of 26.2%/69.7 lm W^?1 at the brightness level of 5000 cd m^?2 with a voltage of only 3.74 V are also obtained using the same isomer as the host in a green TADF‐OLED. It is evident that TADF hosts with high η_PL values, fast reverse intersystem crossing processes, and balanced charge transport properties may open the path toward roll‐off‐free TADF‐OLEDs.     

Multi‐Drug‐Loaded Microcapsules with Controlled Release for Management of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive disease of the nervous system, and is currently managed through commercial tablets that do not sufficiently enable controlled, sustained release capabilities. It is hypothesized that a drug delivery system that provides controlled and sustained release of PD drugs would afford better management of PD. Hollow microcapsules composed of poly‐l ‐lactide (PLLA) and poly (caprolactone) (PCL) are prepared through a modified double‐emulsion technique. They are loaded with three PD drugs, i.e., levodopa (LD), carbidopa (CD), and entacapone (ENT), at a ratio of 4:1:8, similar to commercial PD tablets. LD and CD are localized in both the hollow cavity and PLLA/PCL shell, while ENT is localized in the PLLA/PCL shell. Release kinetics of hydrophobic ENT is observed to be relatively slow as compared to the other hydrophilic drugs. It is further hypothesized that encapsulating ENT into PCL as a surface coating onto these microcapsules can aid in accelerating its release. Now, these spray‐coated hollow microcapsules exhibit similar release kinetics, according to Higuchi's rate, for all three drugs. The results suggest that multiple drug encapsulation of LD, CD, and ENT in gastric floating microcapsules could be further developed for in vivo evaluation for the management of PD.     

Self‐Defensive Coating for Antibiotics Degradation—Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition of Functional and Conformal Coatings for the Immobilization of Enzymes

Conformal epoxy‐rich coatings are synthesized by plasma initiated chain‐growth polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate via a newly developed Plasma initiated chemical vapor deposition method at atmospheric pressure to provide a functional platform for the immobilization of enzymes degrading antibiotics (laccase and β‐lactamase). In addition to enhance the enzymes activity duration and intensity, surface immobilization is also leading to enzyme structure rigidification, allowing them to endure mechanical stresses generated by a laminar water flow of 30 km h⁻¹, and this with no reduction of their enzymatic activity. Self‐defensive surface properties against microorganism's adhesion, preventing the enzyme alteration and improving the degradation performances, are obtained via surface saturation with Tween 20. The developed method is scaled up to high specific surface high‐density polyethy­lene biochips commonly used in water treatment, and shows self‐defensive abilities and particularly long lasting efficient degradation properties.     

Toward Tailorable Zn‐Ion Textile Batteries with High Energy Density and Ultrafast Capability: Building High‐Performance Textile Electrode in 3D Hierarchical Branched Design

Rechargeable Zn‐ion batteries are promising candidates for wearable energy storage devices. However, their performance is severely restricted by the low conductivity and inferior mass loading. Herein, a new type of the textile based electrodes with 3D hierarchical branched design is reported. Both Ni nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes are used to build conductive coatings on the textiles. The 3D hierarchical nanostructures, consisting of the vertical‐aligned nanosheets and the fluffy‐like small flakes, grow on the conductive textiles to form the self‐supported electrodes. It ensures fast electron/ion transport and high mass loading, and maintains the structure stability during cycling. Two textile electrodes with the NiCo hydroxide and MnO₂ self‐branched nanostructures are constructed. Their faster kinetics, higher capacity and better rate capability than the solitary nanosheets based counterpart demonstrate the superiority of the hierarchical architecture. Moreover, the solid‐state Zn‐MnO₂ and Zn‐NiCo batteries are fabricated based on the textile electrodes and the polymer electrolytes. The high energy density, superior power density and good long‐term cycling stability confirm their excellent energy storage ability and fast charge/discharge capability. Particularly, the high safety under various conditions enable them promising candidates for wearable electronics.