Activatable NIR-II Lanthanides-Polymetallic Oxomolybdate Hybrid Nanosensors for Monitoring Chemotherapy Induced Enteritis

Chemotherapy-induced enteritis is one of the side effects associated with cancer therapy, which significantly affects the treatment effect, but there is no effective clinical detection method that can early diagnose its occurrence and progression. Here, a series of second near-infrared window (NIR-II) hybrid nanosensors are designed that consisted of lanthanide nanoparticles and β-Mo2C-derived polymetallic oxomolybdate nanoclusters (Ln@POM). Based on the high sensitivity of POM to reactive oxygen species (ROS) closely related to chemotherapy-induced enteritis, the NIR-II luminescence intensity and lifetime of Ln@POM (Ln: Yb³⁺, Nd³⁺, Ho³⁺, Tm³⁺, Er³⁺) show excellent responsiveness to H₂O₂ and HClO with the detection limit down to 0.15 and 0.14 µm , respectively. Utilizing Nd@POM as a ROS-activated NIR-II nanosensor, the chemotherapeutic enteritis is successfully detected within 7 h after induction of chemotherapy drugs, which is significantly earlier than the gold standard method (immunohistochemistry, 24 h). These results demonstrate that the designed hybrid nanosensors are promising optical tools for the early diagnosis of ROS-related diseases.     

Multi-task entity linking with supervision from a taxonomy

Knowledge and Information Systems - Entity linking is the task of resolving ambiguous mentions in documents to their referent entities in a knowledge graph (KG). Existing solutions mainly rely on...     

Multi-objective routing algorithms for low-earth orbit satellite network

The low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite network, composed of a large number of satellite nodes, is a hot research topic at present. Due to the characteristics of the large-scale LEO satellite network, such as many satellite nodes, short orbit period, large dynamic change of topology, and unstable link-state, its communication quality of service (QoS) requirements are difficult to meet. Aiming at this problem, various factors that may affect data transmission are first analyzed. The network link selection problem is modeled as a multi-constraint optimization decision problem, a routing mathematical model based on linear programming (LP) is designed, and its solution is solved. Aiming at the problem of limited onboard computing resources, a multi-object optimization Dijkstra algorithm (MOODA) is designed. The MOODA finds the optimal path according to the comprehensive performance of the link. It solves the problems of poor comprehensive QoS performance and the low degree of load balancing of the paths found by the Dijkstra algorithm. The simulation results show that the paths found by the two algorithms have good QoS, robustness, and load balancing performance.     

Halogenated Ti3C2 MXenes Prepared by Microwave Molten Salt for Hg0 Photo-Oxidation

Ti₃C₂ MXenes with different halogen modifications are prepared rapidly and efficiently by microwave molten salt method, and the MXene surface functional group modification is successfully achieved to address the problems of low purity, complex functional groups, and uncontrollable energy band structure of MXenes obtained by traditional liquid phase etching. Among them, the modification of the iodine (I) functional group onto the surface of Ti₃C₂ changes the energy band structure and band gap, resulting in easier photoexcitation and more photogenerated carriers. The increased Fermi energy is closer to the conduction band, the decreased surface work function weakens the electron confinement ability. The photogenerated carriers can migrate to the surface of the material more easily with extended lifetime, so the activity of the catalyst is improved. Further, for gaseous monomeric mercury (Hg⁰) photo-oxidative removal, Ti₃C₂-I₂ exhibits 85.5% efficiency of Hg⁰ photo-oxidative removal under visible light. Based on the experimental characterization and density functional theory calculations, a mechanism for the photo-oxidative removal of Hg° from Ti₃C₂-I₂ MXene is proposed, which provides a valuable strategy for studying Ti₃C₂ MXenes in the field of photocatalysis.     

Pre-Activation of CO2 at Cobalt Phthalocyanine-Mg(OH)2 Interface for Enhanced Turnover Rate

Cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) anchored on heterogeneous scaffold has drawn great attention as promising electrocatalyst for carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR), but the molecule/substrate interaction is still pending for clarification and optimization to maximize the reaction kinetics. Herein, a CO₂RR catalyst is fabricated by affixing CoPc onto the Mg(OH)₂ substrate primed with conductive carbon, demonstrating an ultra-low overpotential of 0.31 ± 0.03 V at 100 mA cm⁻² and high faradaic efficiency of >95% at a wide current density range for CO production, as well as a heavy-duty operation at 100 mA cm⁻² for more than 50 h in a membrane electrode assembly. Mechanistic investigations employing in situ Raman and attenuated total reflection surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy unravel that Mg(OH)₂ plays a pivotal role to enhance the CO₂RR kinetics by facilitating the first-step electron transfer to form anionic *CO₂⁻ intermediates. DFT calculations further elucidate that introducing Lewis acid sites help to polarize CO₂ molecules absorbed at the metal centers of CoPc and consequently lower the activation barrier. This work signifies the tailoring of catalyst-support interface at molecular level for enhancing the turnover rate of CO₂RR.     

Pre-Buried ETL with Bottom-Up Strategy Toward Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells with Efficiency Over 23%

With rapid development of photovoltaic technology, flexible perovskite solar cells (f-PSCs) have attracted much attention for their light weight, high flexibility and portability. However, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) achieved so far is not yet comparable to that of rigid devices. This is mainly due to the great challenge of depositing homogeneous and high-quality perovskite films on flexible substrate. In this study, the pre-buried 3-aminopropionic acid hydroiodide (3AAH) additives into the electron transport layer (ETL) and modified the ETL/perovskite (PVK) interface by a bottom-up strategy. 3AAH treatment induced a templated perovskite grain growth and improved the quality of the ETL. By this, the residual stresses generated in PVK during the annealing-cooling process are released and converted into micro-compressive stresses. As a result, the defect density of f-PSCs with pre-buried 3AAH is reduced and the photovoltaic performance is greatly improved, reaching an exceptional PCE of 23.36%. This strategy provides a new idea to bridge the gap between flexible and rigid devices.     

Petromyzontidae-Biomimetic Multimodal Microneedles-Integrated Bioelectronic Catheters for Theranostic Endoscopic Surgery

Current catheter devices in minimally invasive surgery still possess limited functional options, lacking multimodal integration of both sensing and therapy. Catheter devices usually operate outside the tissue, incapable to detect intra-tissue biochemical information for accurate localization and assessment of lesions during surgery. Inspired by the feature and functions of Petromyzontidae, here a multimodal core-shell microneedles-integrated bioelectronic catheter (MNIBC) for tissue-penetrating theranostics in endoscopic surgery is developed. The microneedle (MN) device possesses individually addressable functionality at single-MN tip resolution, enabling multiplex functions (a total of 11 functions distributed in three types of catheters) including biochemical sensing, myoelectric modulation, electroporation, and drug delivery in a submucosal environment. The MNIBC is prepared through hybrid fabrication and dimensionality reduction strategies, where the MN electrodes are functionalized with an MXene-carbon nanotube (MXene-CNT)-based electron mediator, addressing the challenge of reduced electrode sensitivity on ultra-small MN tip. The functionalities of MNIBC are demonstrated both ex vivo and in vivo on anesthetized rabbits via laparoscopy, simulated cystoscopy, and laparotomy. The MNIBC can effectively detect intra-tissue biochemical signals in the bladder, and offers localized electroporation and intra-tissue drug delivery for precise treatments of lesions. The versatile features of the MNIBC present a highly advanced platform for precise surgeries.     

A Polymer Defect Passivator for Efficient Hole-Conductor-Free Printable Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells

Due to the low cost and excellent potential for mass production, printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (p-MPSCs) have drawn a lot of attention among other device structures. However, the low open-circuit voltage (V_OC) of such devices restricts their power conversion efficiency (PCE). This limitation is brought by the high defect density at perovskite grain boundaries in the mesoporous scaffold, which results in severe nonradiative recombination and is detrimental to the V_OC. To improve the perovskite crystallization process, passivate the perovskite defects, and enhance the PCE, additive engineering is an effective way. Herein, a polymeric Lewis base polysuccinimide (PSI) is added to the perovskite precursor solution as an additive. It improves the perovskite crystallinity and its carbonyl groups strongly coordinate with Pb²⁺, which can effectively passivate defects. Additionally, compared with its monomer, succinimide (SI), PSI serves as a better defect passivator because the long-chained macromolecule can be firmly anchored on those defect sites and form a stronger interaction with perovskite grains. As a result, the champion device has a PCE of 18.84%, and the V_OC rises from 973 to 1030 mV. This study offers a new strategy for fabricating efficient p-MPSCs.     

A 2.20 eV Bandgap Polymer Donor for Efficient Colorful Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells

Semitransparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs) have attracted increasing attention due to their promising prospect in building-integrated photovoltaics. Generally, efficient ST-OSCs with good average visible transmittance (AVT) can be realized by developing active layer materials with light absorption far from the visible light range. Herein, the development of ultrawide bandgap polymer donors with near-ultraviolet absorption, paired with near-infrared acceptors, is proposed to achieve high-performance ST-OSCs. The key points for the design of ultrawide bandgap polymers include constructing donor–donor type conjugated skeleton, suppressing the quinoidal resonance effect, and minimizing the twist of conjugated skeleton via noncovalent conformational locks. As a proof of concept, a polymer named PBOF with an optical bandgap of 2.20 eV is synthesized, which exhibited largely reduced overlap with the human eye photopic response spectrum and afforded a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.40% in opaque device. As a result, ST-OSCs with a PCE over 10% and an AVT over 30% are achieved without optical modulation. Moreover, colorful ST-OSCs with visual aesthetics can be achieved by tuning the donor/acceptor weight ratio in active layer benefiting from the ultrawide bandgap nature of PBOF. This study demonstrates the great potential of ultrawide bandgap polymers for efficient colorful ST-OSCs.