Triple Enzyme-Regulated Molecular Hydrogels for Carrier-Free Delivery of Lonidamine

Cancerous cells exhibit overexpression of multiple enzymes in various cellular compartments. These enzymes are often undruggable, yet display unique advantages in regulating intracellular self-assembly and dis-assembly of small molecules for cancer targeting. Herein, a self-assembling molecule (LND-1p-ES) for carrier-free delivery of lonidamine specifically to cancerous cells is designed, where LND-1p-ES executes as both a drug and a carrier with combined benefits thereof. Under the precise regulation of phosphatase (ALP) and esterase (CES), LND-1p-ES is capable of self-assembling intracellularly in a spatiotemporal manner, to confer lonidamine-borne nanofibers with enhanced cellular uptake. These nanofibers also facilitate controlled drug release with the aid of cellular proteases. Taking advantages of overexpressing ALP and CES as well as proteases in cancerous cells, the LND-1p-ES formulation demonstrates enhanced potency and selectivity against melanoma cells A375 in vitro and in vivo. In comparison, none/single enzyme responsive compounds fail to show a similar potency or selectivity, further confirming the indispensable roles of these enzymes in the delivery system. Collectively, the research provides a viable strategy to utilize multiple enzymes in cancerous cells for regulation of intracellular self-assembly, which can be expanded to design smart soft materials responsive to multiple biologically relevant biomolecules for enhanced therapeutic efficacy.     

啁啾型FBG温度测试系统的设计与实现

为了实现长距离、大范围的温度在线监测,设计了基于啁啾调制技术的光纤布拉格光栅温度监测系统.采用线性啁啾结构获得更大回波带宽,从而在单根光纤上集成更多的FBG探测器.计算了光栅尺寸、啁啾系数与光栅周期的函数关系,设计了调制方式及范围.实验由宽带光源、光纤及耦合器、FBG探测器及F-P解调仪组成,调制范围为1530.0~1550.0 nm.对15℃~55℃内温度进行测试,测温结果与WR-220型温度探测器作对比,结果显示,均匀型FBG与啁啾型FBG的温度检测结果基本一致,精度均满足设计要求.但采用啁啾型FBG的系统回波带宽大,可调制能力强,单根光纤上可载入FBG探测器数量是均匀型FBG系统的3倍以上.该结构在不增加硬件的基础上提高了系统的测温能力,具有很好的实用性.     

Nonpolar Cosolvent Driving LUMO Energy Evolution of Methyl Acetate Electrolyte to Afford Lithium-Ion Batteries Operating at −60 °C

The operation of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) at low temperatures (<−20 °C) is hindered by the low conductivity and high viscosity of conventional carbonate electrolytes. Methyl acetate (MA) has proven to be a competitive low-temperature electrolyte solvent with low viscosity and low freezing point, but its interfacial stability is poor and remains elusive until now. Here, it is revealed thaat the reductive stability of MA-based electrolytes is fundamentally governed by the anion-prevailed solvation structure. Based on this framework, fluorobenzene is employed in the electrolyte to promote the entry of anions into the solvation shell via dipole-dipole interactions and the generation of free MA, thus enhancing the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy of MA. The designed electrolyte enables LiCoO₂ (LCO)/graphite cells to exhibit excellent cycling performance at −20 °C (90% retention after 1000 cycles at 1 C) and to remain 91% of their room-temperature capacity at a super-low temperature of −60 °C at 0.05 C. Thanks to the plentiful free MA, this electrolyte has a high conductivity (2.61 mS cm⁻¹) at −60 °C and allows LCO/graphite cell to charge at −60 °C. This study offers the possibility of practical applications for those solvents with poor reductive stability and provides new approaches to designing advanced electrolytes for low-temperature applications.     

Flexible High-Performance and Solution-Processed Organic Photovoltaics with Robust Mechanical Stability

Among the various advantages of organic photovoltaics (OPVs), the key one is their ability to be a highly flexible renewable energy source. However, the power conversion efficiencies for flexible OPV devices still lag behind those of their rigid counterparts, and their mechanical stability cannot meet the requirements for practical applications at present. These, in particular, depend on flexible transparent electrodes (FTEs). Here, a high-quality FTE (called FlexAgNE), with the simultaneously combined excellent characteristics, has been tested with a series of efficient active materials for flexible OPV devices, and high performance comparable with rigid counterparts has been achieved. In addition, due to the synergistic effect of FlexAgNE and the upper ZnO transport layer, including strong binding between the polyethylene terephthalate substrate and a hydrophilic polyelectrolyte (the key component of FlexAgNE), together with the capillary force effect of crossed silver nanowires and tight filling of ZnO, the flexible devices demonstrate robust mechanical stability even under extreme bending or folding conditions.     

Dual Atoms (Fe,F) Co-Doping Inducing Electronic Structure Modulation of NiO Hollow Flower-Spheres for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution/Sulfion Oxidation Reaction Performance

Heteroatoms Fe, F co-doped NiO hollow spheres (Fe, F-NiO) are designed, which simultaneously integrate promoted thermodynamics by electronic structure modulation with boosted reaction kinetics by nano-architectonics. Benefiting from the electronic structure co-regulation of Ni sites by introducing Fe and F atoms in NiO , as the rate-determined step (RDS), the Gibbs free energy of OH* intermediates (ΔG_OH*) for Fe, F-NiO catalyst is significantly decreased to 1.87 eV for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) compared with pristine NiO (2.23 eV), which reduces the energy barrier and improves the reaction activity. Besides, densities of states (DOS) result verifies the bandgap of Fe, F-NiO(100) is significantly decreased compared with pristine NiO(100), which is beneficial to promote electrons transfer efficiency in electrochemical system. Profiting by the synergistic effect, the Fe, F-NiO hollow spheres only require the overpotential of 215 mV for OER at 10 mA cm⁻² and extraordinary durability under alkaline condition. The assembled Fe, F-NiO || Fe-Ni₂P system only needs 1.51 V to reach 10 mA cm⁻², also exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic durability for continuous operation. More importantly, replacing the sluggish OER by advanced sulfion oxidation reaction (SOR) not only can realize the energy saving H₂ production and toxic substances degradation, but also bring additional economic benefits.     

Unravelling H+/Zn2+ Synergistic Intercalation in a Novel Phase of Manganese Oxide for High‐Performance Aqueous Rechargeable Battery

Aqueous Zn‐MnO₂ batteries using mild electrolyte show great potential in large‐scale energy storage (LSES) application, due to high safety and low cost. However, structure collapse of manganese oxides upon cycling caused by the conversion mechanism (e.g., from tunnel to layer structures for α‐, β‐, and γ‐phases) is one of the most urgent issues plaguing its practical applications. Herein, to avoid the phase conversion issue and enhance battery performance, a structurally robust novel phase of manganese oxide MnO₂H_0.16(H₂O)_0.27 (MON) nanosheet with thickness of ≈2.5 nm is designed and synthesized as a promising cathode material, in which a nanosheet structure combined with a novel H⁺/Zn²⁺ synergistic intercalation mechanism is demonstrated and evidenced. Accordingly, a high‐performance Zn/MON cell is achieved, showing a high energy density of ≈228.5 Wh kg^?1, impressive cyclability with capacity retention of 96% at 0.5 C after 300 cycles, as well as exhibiting rate performance of 115.1 mAh g^?1 at current rate of 10 C. To the best current knowledge, this H⁺/Zn²⁺ synergistic intercalation mechanism is first reported in an aqueous battery system, which opens a new opportunity for development of high‐performance aqueous Zn ion batteries for LSES.     

Water atomisation of metal powders: effect of water spray configuration

ABSTRACT

We consider the effect of water spray configuration on the fineness and uniformity of a metal powder produced by water atomization of a melt stream. The effects of water spray travel distance, nozzle design, water pressure, melt superheat, and apex angle on the particle size distribution of a metal powder is studied via a laboratory-scale water atomizer; the main focus is on the first two, which are usually fixed parameters of the atomizer. Correlations are proposed relating the mass median size and standard deviation of the powder to the parameters cited. Similar correlations for water pressure, melt superheat, and apex angle have been reported elsewhere; we present data on these effects to confirm the validity of our results, especially as Bi-42%Sn powder has not been studied before. What is new are results on the effect of water spray travel distance and nozzle design on the mass median size and standard deviation of powder.     

Nanozyme-Engineered Bioglass through Supercharged Interface for Enhanced Anti-Infection and Fibroblast Regulation

Effective therapy of infection impaired tissue defects has long been an important but challenging topic, and alternative antibiotic-free solutions are greatly demanded to tackle bacterial infections and promote tissue repair. Herein, the use of supercharged gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with enhanced enzyme mimic activity as novel interface modulator of bioactive glass nanoparticles (BGN) for infected wound treatment is reported. The supercharged AuNCs exhibit extraordinary affinity toward BGN, leading to the robust immobilization of AuNCs on BGN (BGN-AuNCs). Functional AuNCs endow BGN with superior peroxidase-like activity for catalytic antibacterial action, which can kill bacteria with a concentration down to 75 µg mL⁻¹ within 6 h due to the production of highly toxic ·OH. Moreover, expression level of COL-1, TGF-β, and FGF-2 in fibroblasts is actively up-regulated to 2.9, 3.1, and 1.6 times higher than that of control group due to the positive effect of BGN-AuNCs on cell proliferation. Meanwhile, intrinsic photoluminescent property of AuNCs enables the direct visualization of BGN at both in vitro and in vivo levels for potentially bioimaging-guided therapy. Further in vivo results demonstrate that BGN-AuNCs hold enormous promise for infectious disease therapy and pro-regeneration, and the proposed supercharged interface engineering strategy is attractive for developing advanced functional nanomedicines.     

Hierarchical Chiral Self-Assembly of Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals by Oriented Phase Transition

Self-assembly of lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) into close-packed, long-range-ordered nanostructures can effectively modulate their photoelectronic properties, yet significantly challenging. Herein, an efficient approach is reported to induce the hierarchical self-assembly of perovskite CsPbBr₃ NCs by phase transition using chiral cysteine ligands, yielding asymmetric Cs₄PbBr₆ nanorods (NRs) with the circularly polarized luminescent response. An interfacial phase transition process is found during the conversion of CsPbBr₃ nanocubes to Cs₄PbBr₆ NCs initiated by cysteine molecules. Then the Cs₄PbBr₆ NCs aggregate sequentially to form nanoclusters, which further self-assemble into the chiral Cs₄PbBr₆ NRs. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the Cs₄PbBr₆ nanochains gradually approach each other to achieve an asymmetric structure, and the simulated circular dichroism spectrum further supports the formation of a chiral structure. This work offers a facile method for the hierarchical chiral self-assembly of lead halide perovskite nanostructures, which brings new insights to explore chiral nanostructures by modulating the surface chemistry and post self-assembly.     

Bio‐Inspired Multifunctional Metallic Foams Through the Fusion of Different Biological Solutions

Nature is a school for scientists and engineers. Inherent multiscale structures of biological materials exhibit multifunctional integration. In nature, the lotus, the water strider, and the flying bird evolved different and optimized biological solutions to survive. In this contribution, inspired by the optimized solutions from the lotus leaf with superhydrophobic self‐cleaning, the water strider leg with durable and robust superhydrophobicity, and the lightweight bird bone with hollow structures, multifunctional metallic foams with multiscale structures are fabricated, demonstrating low adhesive superhydrophobic ­self‐cleaning, striking loading capacity, and superior repellency towards different corrosive solutions. This approach provides an effective avenue to the development of water strider robots and other aquatic smart devices floating on water. Furthermore, the resultant multifunctional metallic foam can be used to construct an oil/water separation apparatus, exhibiting a high separation efficiency and long‐term repeatability. The presented approach should provide a promising solution for the design and construction of other multifunctional metallic foams in a large scale for practical applications in the petro‐chemical field. Optimized biological solutions continue to inspire and to provide design idea for the construction of multiscale structures with multifunctional integration.