Latest ArticlesDeveloping low toxicity and multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform is the key for precise cancer diagnosis and treatment. Herein, an inorganic-organic hybrid nanocomposite is designed by modifying zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) with polydopamine (PDA) followed by doping Mn2+ ions and functionalizing with Tween 20 (Tween-ZrO2@PDA-Mn2+) for multimodal imaging and chemo-photothermal combination therapy. The as-prepared nanocomposite exhibits good biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, it can be employed as a multifunctional platform not only for computed tomography (CT) imaging and T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, but also for efficient chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) loading. Importantly, because of the pronounced photothermal conversion performance and controllable DOX release ability triggered by the near-infrared (NIR) irradiation and acidic pH, the synergistic effect between photothermal therapy and chemotherapy results in an enhanced cancer treatment efficacy in vivo. Our work provides a high-performance inorganic-organic hybrid nanotheranostic platform for chemo-photothermal cancer therapy guided by CT and MR imaging.
Gold nanovesicles (GVs) with unique plasmonic property and large cavity hold great potential as a stimuli-responsive nanocarrier to deliver drugs for efficient tumor chemotherapy and other therapies synergistically. Herein, we developed doxorubicin-loaded gold nanovesicles (DGVs), offering infrared thermal (IRT) and photoacoustic (PA) dual-modal imaging guided mild hyperthermia-enhanced chemo-photothermal cancer synergistic therapy. The DGVs are self-assembled by gold nanoparticles modified with amphiphilic copolymer in a predetermined concentration of doxorubicin through film rehydration method. Under the influence of laser excitation, the as-prepared DGVs exhibited good photothermal effect, which triggered the structural disruption of GVs and thus, allowed the efficient release of encapsulated DOX to enhance cell uptake for fluorescence imaging and tumor chemotherapy, respectively. In addition, DGVs also showed a strong PA and IRT signals in vivo. Our study demonstrated the potential of DGVs as stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems and cancer theranostics.
Supramolecular transformations of coordination cage or capsule have received much attention recently, which help elucidate this natural self-assembly behavior in biological systems. The current study describes the first supramolecular transformation of titanium–organic coordination capsule triggered by phenol (and H3PO3). The structural alterations are accompanied by the reconstruction of 5-coordinated Ti centers to 6-coordinated ones. Meanwhile, different amounts of encapsulated phenol guest molecules can be identified, dependent on the sizes of the obtained cavities. In addition, they display much better visible light absorption and air stability than the isopropanol stabilized ones.
Owing to excellent light absorption and high activity for oxygen evolution, monoclinic bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is regarded as an ideal candidate for photocatalytic water splitting. However, its application is limited by the large particle size in micrometer scale, as well as the slightly positive conduction band. In this work, we successfully synthesized nano-BiVO4 with particle size ranged from 27 nm to 57 nm by wet chemical method based on electrostatic spinning method. Unlike bulk BiVO4, the nano-sized BiVO4 possesses the ability to generate hydrogen by water splitting, and the activity could reach up to 1.66 μmol h−1g−1 with the assistance of Pt. The enhanced activity is mainly attributed to the improvements resulted from reduced particle size, which includes elevated conduction band, enlarged specific surface area and promoted charge separation. This work provides a simple method for synthesizing photocatalyst with small particle size and high yield.
In the crystal engineering area, it is important to clearly demonstrating the relationship of structure and certain functionality. Herein, we present the study of the relationship of structure with phosphorescent nature for two new room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) coordination polymers (CPs). [Pb(FDA)(H2O)] (1) and [NH3(CH3)NH2(CH3)2][Pb4(FDA)5] (2), where H2FDA is 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid, have been synthesized by solvothermal method using different solvents and Pb2+ sources and characterized by microanalysis, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric (TG), IR and UV–vis spectra. The Pb2+ ions adopt bicapped triangle prism coordination sphere in 1 and 2, which are connected together via FDA2− ligands into bilayer structure in 1 while pillared-layer framework in 2. The FDA2− ligands show different bridging modes in 1 and 2, leading to distinct coordination interactions between Pb2+ ion and FDA2− ligand in both CPs. Both 1 and 2 emit ligand-centered RTP due to the heavy atom of Pb2+ ion, with a lifetime and quantum yield of 0.62 ms and 14.9% in 1 versus 1.69 ms and 15.7% in 2. The emission peak shows significant redshift (79 nm) in 2 regarding 1, which arises from their distinction of coordination interactions between Pb2+ ion and FDA2− ligand in both CPs.
Developing high-efficiency, inexpensive, and steady non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts to displace Pt-based catalysts is significant for commercial applications of Al-air battery. Here, we have prepared the Cu/Cu2O-NC catalyst with excellent ORR performance and high stability, due to the synergistic effect of Cu and Cu2O nanoparticles. The half-wave potential (0.8 V) and the limiting-current density (5.20 mA/cm2) of the Cu/Cu2O-NC are very close to those of the 20% Pt/C catalyst (0.82 V, 5.10 mA/cm2). Besides, it exhibits excellent performance with a maximal power density of 250 mW/cm2 and a stable continuous discharge for more than 90 h in the Al-air battery test. The promoting effects of Cu2O towards Cu-based ORR catalysts are illustrated as follows: (i) Cu2O is the major ORR active site by the redox of Cu(Ⅱ)/Cu(Ⅰ), which provides excellent ORR activities; (ii) Cu can stabilize the location of Cu2O by assisting the electron transfer to Cu(Ⅱ)/Cu(Ⅰ) redox, which is conducive to the high stability of the catalyst. This work provides a useful strategy for enhancing the ORR performance of Cu-based catalysts.
Prussian whites (PWs) with a three-dimensional framework can accommodate the insertion and extraction of ions with large radius, which have been widely used in potassium ion batteries. However, PWs show the poor cycling performance and inferior rate ability because of high coordinated water. In this work, PWs with different water content were synthesized via a coprecipitation method by controlling the reaction temperature. The sample with low-coordination water prohibits the best electrochemical performance. It shows a high capacity of 120.5 mAh/g at 100 mA/g for potassium-ion batteries (KIBs). It also exhibits a good rate performance, displaying a capacity of 73.2 mAh/g at 500 mA/g.
Li-O2 batteries (LOBs) have been perceived as the most potential clean energy system for fast-growing electric vehicles by reason of their environmentally friendlier, high energy density and high reversibility. However, there are still some issues limiting the practical application of LOBs, such as the large gap between the actual capacity level and the theoretical capacity, low rate performance as well as short cycle life. Herein, hollow CeO2/Co3O4 polyhedrons have been synthesized by MOF template with a simple method. And it is was further served as a cathode catalyst in Li-O2 batteries. By means of the synergistic effect of two different transition metal oxides, nano-sized hollow porous CeO2/Co3O4 cathode obtained better capacity and cycle performance. As a result, excellent cyclability of exceeding 140 and 90 cycles are achieved at a fixed capacity of 600 and 1000 mAh/g, respectively. The successful application of this catalyst in LOBs offers a novel route in the aspect of the synthesis of other hollow porous composite oxides as catalysts for cathodes in LOBs systems by the MOF template method.
We herein report a new lanthanide metal-organic framework (MOF) that exhibits excellent chemical stability, especially in the aqueous solution over a wide pH range from 1 to 14. In contrast to many reported lanthanide MOFs, this Tb-based MOF emits cyan fluorescence inherited from the integrated AIE-active ligand, rather than Ln3+ ions. More remarkably, its fluorescence signal features a highly selective and sensitive "turn-off" response toward CrO42−, Cr2O72− and Fe3+ ions, highlighted with the low detection limits down to 68.18, 69.85 and 138.8 ppm, respectively. Thus, the exceptional structural stability and sensing performance render this material able to be a superior luminescent sensor for heavy metal ions in wastewater.
Carbon nanofiber-based supercapacitors have broad prospects in powering wearable electronics owing to their high specific capacity, fast charge/discharge process, along with long-cycling life. Herein, a poly(acrylonitrile-co-β-methylhydrogen itaconate) copolymer was prepared and used to synthesize flexible hollow carbon nanofibers (HCNFs) via an electrospinning method without breaking after multiple bending. Subsequently, the inner and outer surfaces of HCNFs were evenly covered with ordered needle-like polyaniline (PANI) through in-situ polymerization methods to obtain three-dimensional flexible HCNFs/PANI composites, which exhibited a high capacity 1196.7 F/g at 1 A/g and good cycling stability (90.1% retention at 5 A/g after 3000 cycles). The symmetrical supercapacitor based on the HCNFs/PANI composites also delivered an outstanding electrochemical performance with high energy/power density (60.28 Wh/kg at 1000 W/kg) and superior cycling durability (90% capacitance retention after at 5 A/g 3000 cycles), which confirmed that the HCNFs/PANI composites had a wide application potential in flexible energy storage devices.
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