Latest ArticlesThe development of solid-state smart materials, in particular those showing photoresponsive luminescence, is highly desirable for their cutting edge applications in displays, sensors, data-storage, and anti-counterfeiting. However, to achieve both excellent photoresponsive performance and bright luminescence in solid state remains challenge. Herein, we integrate a novel photochromic fluorophore YL into flexible polymer chains, thereby enabling the resultant polymer PYL with reversible photoisomerization upon aggregation. Remarkably, the polymer PYL possesses excellent photochromic properties and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) activity, which can be attributed to the photoactive YL moiety. Upon light exposure, its film exhibits reversibly off-to-on fluorescent modulation with quick response, high emission efficiency and signal contrast, sharply different from the weak emission in solution. The novel photoresponsive AIE polymer with invisible/visible color and fluorescence transformation allows for advanced anti-counterfeiting applications. This work provides an efficient platform for constructing solid-state photocontrollable luminescent materials.
Point-of-care nucleic acid testing (POCNAT) has played an important role in the outbreak of infectious diseases (e.g., COVID-19) over recent years. POCNAT aims to realize the rapid, simple and automatic detection of nucleic acid. Thanks to the development of manufacturing technology, electronic information technology, artificial intelligence technology, and biological information technology in recent years, the development of the POCNAT device has led to significant advancement. Instead of the normal nucleic acid detection methods used in the laboratory, some novel experimental carriers have been applied, such as chips, cartridges and papers. The application of these experimental carriers has realized the automation and integration of nucleic acid detection. The entire process of nucleic acid detection is normally divided into three steps (nucleic acid extraction, target amplification and signal detection). All of the reagents required by the process can be pre-stored on these experimental carriers, without unnecessary manual operation. Furthermore, all of the processes are carried out in this experimental carrier, with the assistance of a specific control device. Although they are complicated to manufacture and precise in design, their application provides a significant step forwards in nucleic acid detection and realizes the integration of nucleic acid detection. This technology has great potential in the field of point-of-care molecular diagnostics in the future. This paper focuses on the relevant content of these experimental carriers.
As a worldwide public health issue, chronic kidney disease still lacks of effective therapeutic approaches due to the challenges in conventional organ transplantation and dialysis. Renal tissue engineering offers an advantageous therapeutic or regenerative option over typical donor organ. However, despite the great progress of decellularized extracellular matrix based scaffold for the renal regeneration, several safety concerns and complex composition still remain to be addressed. Herein, the extracellular matrix-mimicking hydrogel scaffolds were developed through covalent and physical cross-linking between swim bladder-derived natural collagen (COL) and anti-fibrosis chondroitin sulfate (CS) derivatives. The biomimetic hydrogels showed proper mechanical property, excellent thermal stability and high biocompatibility both in vitro and in vivo, by altering the mass ratio of COL and CS. When implanted in partially nephrectomized rat model, the 1COL/2CS scaffold enable it recruit more native kidney cells, reduce the tubular damage, and even induce the regeneration of renal tubular-like tissue and restore renal metabolic function more effectively comparing with the pure 2COL and 2CS scaffold. These results suggest that the biomimetic scaffold is a promising functional platform for treating renal diseases.
Drug delivery systems (DDS) are used to deliver therapeutic drugs to improve selectivity and reduce side effects. With the development of nanotechnology, many nanocarriers have been developed and applied to drug delivery, including mesoporous silica. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have attracted a lot of attention for simple synthesis, biocompatibility, high surface area and pore volume. Based on the pore system and surface modification, gated mesoporous silica nanoparticles can be designed to realize on-command drug release, which provides a new approach for selective delivery of antitumor drugs. Herein, this review mainly focuses on the "gate keepers" of mesoporous silica for drug controlled release in nearly few years (2017–2020). We summarize the mechanism of drug controlled release in gated MSNs and different gated materials: inorganic gated materials, organic gated materials, self-gated drug molecules, and biological membranes. The facing challenges and future prospects of gated MSNs are discussed rationally in the end.
The effective detecting ONOO− variations in vivo is of great importance to well understand the complex pathophysiological processes. We reported here a photoacoustic (PA) probe AZB-1 for imaging ONOO− in vivo. AZB-1 showed an originally strong photoacoustic signal at 660 nm. And its PA signal can be turned off by shutting the ICT effect caused by the conjugated electron withdrawing group at 2-position of the aza-BODIPY core. Moreover, the probe was successfully employed to imaging ONOO− variations in inflammatory mice models. Wisely utilized this strategy may serve as powerful platforms for the preparation of novel PA chemosensors.
Recent years have witnessed the wide contributions made by transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) to various fields, including the biomedical field. Here, to identify and further promote the development of biomedical TMDCs, we provide a bibliometric analysis of literature regarding TMDCs for biomedical applications. Firstly, general bibliometric distributions of the dataset by year, country, institute, Web of Science category and referenced source are recognized. Following, we carefully explore the research hotspots of the TMDC-related biomedical field, among which biosensing, bioelectronics, cancer theranostics, antibacterial and tissue engineering are identified. The functions of TMDCs in each biomedical scenario, the related properties and research challenges are highlighted. Finally, future prospects are proposed to shed light on the design of novel TMDC-related biomaterials, potential new biomedical applications, as well as their clinical translation.
More and more attentions have been attracted by lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S), owing to the high energy density for the increasingly advanced energy storage system. While the poor cycling stability, due to the inherent polysulfide shuttle, seriously hampered their practical application. Recently, some polar hosts, like single metal oxides and sulfides, have been employed as hosts to interact with polysulfide intermediates. However, due to the inherent poor electrical conductivity of these polar hosts, a relatively low specific capacity is obtained. Herein, a spinel-type bimetal sulfide NiCo2S4 through a Prussian blue analogue derived methodology is reported as the novel host of polysulfide, which enables high-performance sulfur cathode with high Coulombic efficiency and low capacity decay. Notably, the Li-S battery with NiCo2S4-S composites cathode still maintains a capacity of 667 mAh/g at 0.5 C after 300 cycles, and 399 mAh/g at 1 C after 300 cycles. Even after 300 cycles at the current density of 0.5 C, the capacity decays by 0.138% per cycle at high sulfur loading about 3 mg/cm2. And the capacity decays by 0.026% per cycle after 1000 cycles, when the rate is 1 C. More importantly, the cathode of NiCo2S4-S composite shows the outstanding discharge capacity, owing to its good conduction, high catalytic ability and the strong confinement of polysulfides.
Rhodamine dyes have been widely employed in biological imaging and sensing. However, it is always a challenge to design rhodamine derivatives with huge Stokes shift to address the draconian requirements of single-excitation multicolor imaging. In this work, we described a generally strategy to enhance the Stokes shift of rhodamine dyes by completely breaking their electronic symmetry. As a result, the Stokes shift of novel rhodamine dye DQF-RB-Cl is up to 205 nm in PBS, which is the largest in all the reported rhodamine derivatives. In addition, we successfully realized the single excitation trichromatic imaging of mitochondria, lysosomes and cell membranes by combining DQF-RB-Cl with commercial lysosomal targeting probe Lyso-Tracker Green and membrane targeting dye Dil. This is the organic synthetic dyes for SLE-trichromatic imaging in cells for the first time. These results demonstrate the potential of our design as a useful strategy to develop huge Stokes shift fluorophore for bioimaging.
Surface deposition based on metal-phenolic networks (MPNs) has received increasing interest in recent years. The catechol structure is generally considered to be essential to the formation of MPNs. Our most recent results have demonstrated that some kinds of monophenols can form MPNs on substrate surfaces. Herein, we report a fast and effective surface-coating system based on the coordination of 3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-propenoic acid, a kind of monophenol, with Fe3+. Compared with other metal ions such as Cu2+ and Ni2+, Fe3+ with stronger electron acceptability can coordinate with the monophenol more strongly to form MPNs, and moreover, the deposition time significantly decreases to 40 min from generally 24 h. It is demonstrated that the deposition process is controlled by the coordination, Fe3+ hydrolysis, and deprotonation of the monophenol. The coatings endow substrates such as polypropylene microfiltration membrane with underwater superoleophobicity, which can be applied in oil/water separation with high separation efficiency and great long-term stability. In addition, the coated membranes are positively charged and thus are useful in selective adsorption of dyes. The present work not only provides a novel, fast, and one-step deposition method to fabricate MPNs, but also demonstrates that the fabrication efficiency of monophenol-based MPNs is comparable with that of polyphenol-based MPNs.
Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) have gained great attention as promising next-generation power sources, because of their low cost, enviable safety and high theoretical capacity. Recently, massive researches have been devoted to vanadium-based materials as cathodes in ZIBs, owing to their multiple valence states, competitive gravimetric energy density, but the capacity degradation, sluggish kinetics, low operating voltage hinder further optimization of their performance in ZIBs. This review summarizes recent progress to increase the interlayer spacing, structural stability, and the diffusion ability of the guest Zn ions, including the insertion of different ions, introduction of defects, design of diverse morphologies, the combination of other materials. We also focus on approaches to promoting the valuable performance of vanadium-based cathodes, along with the related ongoing scientific challenges and limitations. Finally, the future perspectives and research directions of vanadium-based aqueous ZIBs are provided.
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