Latest ArticlesThe silicon-based materials are promising candidates for lithium-ion batteries owing to their high energy density. However, achieving long lifespan under realistic conditions remains a challenge because of the volume expansion and low conductivity. In this work, the highly elastic cobweb-like composite materials consisted by SiO and nanofibers are designed and fabricated for high-efficient lithium storage by ball-milling & ; electrostatic spinning method. The reconstructed heterostructure and highly elastic nanofibers can simultaneously increase the conductivity and inhibit the "expansion effect" of silicon-based materials. The constructed electrode of n-SiO/CNF delivers an initial capacity of 1700 mAh/g, and maintains the capacities over 1000 mAh/g after 100 cycles at the current density of 500 mA/g. Meanwhile, this electrode can give an initial coulombic efficiency over 85% and maintains at 98% in the following charge/discharge processes. Furthermore, it exhibits efficient long-term electrochemical performance, maintaining the capacity at about 1000 mAh/g at a high current density of 1000 mA/g after 1000 cycles. This work could provide a promising strategy for enhancing the performance of silicon-based composite materials for practical application in lithium-ion batteries.
To prevent polysulfides from dissolution into electrolyte, we propose a novel and simple approach to nitrogen-doped carbon foams which contain hierarchically porous structure and are decorated with zinc nanodots through one-pot carbonization and activation process. These carbon foams, which serve as hosts for sulfur in lithium battery, can provide a conducting network and shorter diffusion length for Li-ions. Specially, the zinc nanodots derived from the carbothermal reaction of ZnCl2 at high temperature can interact with sulfur/polysulfides by strong chemisorption. In addition, the zinc nanodots can also facilitate the conversion reaction between Li2Sx (2 < x < 8) and Li2S/Li2S2. Therefore, Zn@NCFs/S cathode presents high sulfur utility and large capacity.
Extensive research has been performed on cell membrane camouflaged-based drug delivery systems in recent years. Herein, we provide an overview of the challenges in system preparation, functional design, continuous industrial production of these systems, and solution strategies for these challenges. Further, we analyze and discuss the frontier medical applications of cell membrane-camouflaged drug delivery systems in anti-inflammatory, anti-pathogenic microorganisms, and biological detoxification. This review takes a challenge-oriented perspective and seeks innovative strategies, provides a literature review of research into cell membrane-camouflaged drug delivery systems, and promotes the development of personalized clinical treatments.
The photoisomerization properties of azo derivatives have been widely used in the fields of materials and biology. One serious restriction to the development of functional azo-based materials is the necessity to trigger switching by UV light, which damage the corresponding surfaces and penetrate only partially through the matter. Therefore, developing the visible and near-infrared light activated azo switches can solve this problem. This review provides a summary of molecular design strategies for driving the isomerization of azo derivatives with visible light and near-infrared light: (1) smart design directly excited by visible light, (2) the addition of upconversion nanoparticles, (3) the employment of two-photon absorption, (4) indirect excitation in combination with metal sensitizer.
Living-cell imaging demands high specificity, sensitivity, and minimal background interference to the targets of interest. However, developing a desirable imaging probe that can possess all the above features is still challenging. The bioorthogonal surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging has been recently emerged through utilizing Raman reporters with characteristic peaks in Raman-silent region of cells (1800-2800 cm-1), which opens a revolutionary avenue for living-cell imaging with multiplexing capability. In this review, we focus on the recent advances in the technology development and the biological and biomedical applications of the living-cell bioorthogonal SERS imaging technique. After introduction of fundamental principles for bioorthogonal tag or label, we present applications for visualization of various intracellular components and environment including proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, pH and hypoxia, even for cancer diagnosis in tissue samples. Then, various bioorthogonal SERS imaging-guided therapy strategies have been discussed such as phototherapy and surgery. In conclusion, this strategy has great potential to be a flexible and robust tool for visualization detection and diseases diagnosis.
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a signaling molecule that plays important roles in biological systems. The exploration of H2S as a new drug release trigger and its related fluorescent theranostic system is crucial for cancer bio-imaging and therapy. Herein, we designed a new two-photon ratiometric fluorescent theranostic prodrug (compound 1) and studied its spectroscopic properties and application in in vivo imaging. Compound 1 specifically reacted with H2S and released the free active therapeutic component of 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin, which was accompanied with a red-shift fluorescence emission signal from 460 nm to 545 nm. The exogenous and endogenous H2S in living cells were imaged by compound 1 under one-photon and two-photon excitation. Furthermore, compound 1 monitored the H2S concentration changes in Caenorhabditis elegans by fluorescence imaging. Additionally, it showed effective drug release activation in situ tumor with exogenous and endogenous H2S as the trigger. The H2S-sensitive activation and drug-release properties highlight the potential of theranostic compound 1 in future cancer treatment and therapy.
Lipid droplets (LDs) are intracellular lipid-metabolism organelles that involved in many physiological processes, metabolic disorders as well as diseases such as atherosclerosis. However, the specific probes that can visually locate abnormal LDs-rich tissues and track LDs-associated behavior to the naked eye with adequate biosafety still are rare. Herein, we develop a new design strategy of LDs-targeted probe based on the solvatochromism of coumarin derivatives. The results revealed that the emission wavelength of coumarin fluorophores gradually red shift in different solvents with increasing polarity, while absorption wavelength almost unchanged. As a result, the enlarged stokes shift of coumarin was emerged from oil to water. Furthermore, properly reducing water solubility and adding electronic donor at the structure of coumarins can enlarge this type of solvatochromism. This discovery was utilized to develop suitable probe for the image of LDs and LDs-rich tissues with high resolution and biosafety. Therefore, LDs-associated behavior was visible to the naked eye during the process of lipophagy and atherosclerosis. We deem that the developed probe here offers a new possibility to accurately diagnosis and analyse LDs-related diseases in clinic and preclinical study.
The fascinating luminescence properties of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have drawn considerable research interests, and been widely harnessed for a wide range of applications. However, a fundamental understanding towards ligand density's role in the luminescence properties of these ultrasmall AuNCs remains unclear yet. In this communication, through systematic investigation of surface chemistries of glutathione-protected AuNCs (GSH-AuNCs) with different density of GSH as well as other thiolates, it is discovered that the density of surface ligands can significantly regulate the luminescence properties of AuNCs. Fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that AuNCs with a higher density of electron-rich ligands facilitate their luminescence generation. Moreover, differences in the surface coverage of AuNCs can also affect their interactions with foreign species, as illustrated by significantly different fluorescence quenching capability of GSH-AuNCs with different ligand density towards Hg2+. This study provides new insight into the intriguing luminescence properties of metal NCs, which is hoped to stimulate further research on the design of metal NCs with strong luminescence and sensitive/specific responses for promising optoelectronic, sensing and imaging applications.
Here we propose a fluorescent sensor, Chroma-V, consisted of a Hoechst ligand (Hoe) to target chromatin DNA and a BODIPY rotor (BDP) to sense the local viscosity that reflects chromatin condensation state. Within Chroma-V, efficient FRET process from Hoe to BDP facilitated a single-excitation ratiometric imaging of nucleus DNA under fluorescence confocal microscope, which utilized the ratio of two channels to enable an intuitive visualization of chromatin condensation state. And fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) based on fluorescent signal from BDP proved to be a more accurate method to quantify the changes of chromatin condensation state under different epigenetic states, including histone acetylation regulated by deacetylase inhibitors, cell apoptosis induced by DNA-bining drugs, and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of HUVEC cells induced by TGF-β.
Currently, architecting a rational and efficient nanoplatform combing with multi-therapeutic modalities is highly obligatory for advanced cancer treatment. In order to remedy the self-limiting hypoxic dilemma of photodynamic therapy (PDT), herein, a facile photosensitizer (i.e., chlorin e6, Ce6) and bioreductive prodrug (i.e., tirapazamine, TPZ)-coloaded hyaluronic acid (HA) nanomicelles (denoted as TPZ@HA-Ce6) was developed for the cascading mode of photo-bioreductive cancer therapy. Taking the typical advantage of Ce6 coupled HA conjugate, TPZ was easily and successfully accommodated into the hydrophobic core of HA-Ce6 nanomicelles, yielding TPZ@HA-Ce6. It showed good dispersibility and stability with the hydrodynamic size of ca. 170 nm. It targeted the CD44 overexpressed cancer cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis way and killed them effectively with singlet oxygen and the subsequent TPZ radicals resulting from the oxygen depletion of PDT. The later was further verified by the hypoxia probe in vivo. Using murine mammary carcinoma 4 T1 model, TPZ@HA-Ce6 nanomicelles exhibited cascading and synergistic anticancer effect of PDT and TPZ bioreductive therapy compared with each monotherapy. This work suggests the promising prospect of the hybrid hyaluronic nanomicelles for highly efficient cancer combination treatment.
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