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Pd x Cu y /NC and Pd x Co y /NC with different metal mass ratios of Pd to Cu (or Co) are synthesized. They (Pd : Cu (or Co) = 3 : 7) show excellent catalytic activity and high selectivity to furfuryl alcohol (FA) (or tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA)) under quite mild conditions due to synergistic effect of Pd-Cu (Co)-NC.

A novel NIR-II cyanine dye denoted as Sulfo-1100 was designed and synthesized to realize high-fidelity in vivo imaging of orthotopic glioma. The dye in FBS (10%) and PBS showed NIR-I absorptions (866 nm and 776 nm, respectively) and NIR-II fluorescence emissions (1114 nm and 1120 nm). To realize specific imaging for orthotopic glioma in vivo , Sulfo-1100 was assembled with holo-Tf to form hT-Sulfo-1100 nanoparticles (NPs). They showed excellent targeting and through-skull imaging ability in as soon as 10 min. More importantly, hT-Sulfo-1100 NPs and free Sulfo-1100 could be excreted through the renal clearance pathway within 12 h and were retained neither in the liver nor spleen, avoiding a long-term toxicity risk. This novel water-soluble NIR-II fluorescent dye offers a tool for deep-tissue through-skull in situ imaging to detect tumors with high optical resolution and good biocompatibility.

We demonstrate a simple method for preparing highly active Au/TS-1 catalysts for propylene hydro-oxidation, which involves sequentially impregnating HAuCl 4 and Cs 2 CO 3 solutions onto TS-1. The Au/TS-1 catalysts synthesized by this method exhibit high Au uptake efficiency (∼100%), high dispersion of Au nanoparticles and superior activity.

Alkylamines with different chain lengths including n -butylamine, n -hexylamine, and n -octylamine, are applied to regulate the CsPbIBr 2 perovskite film quality by strain engineering. The status of residual strains is controllably modulated, resulting in improved efficiency and stability of carbon-based hole-transport-material free CsPbIBr 2 perovskite solar cells.

A novel Au-allenylidene promoted decarboxylative annulation by intramolecular α-nucleophilic addition has been disclosed. The unsaturated cyclic ethynylethylene carbamates/carbonates can be converted to unique nucleophiles attached with alkylidene ketenes by sequential decarboxylation and oxidation processes. Such alkylidene ketenes can be rapidly trapped by intramolecular α-attacking annulation to generate potential biological active unsaturated γ-lactams/lactones with broad scope, facile post-modification, high regioselectivity and efficiency.

The preparation of ultra-small and well-dispersed metal nanoparticles (NPs) is of great importance for promoting oxygen reduction. Here, a metal (Fe and Zn) NP (7 nm) based catalyst derived from a Zn-based metal-organic framework was obtained by a vapor adsorption strategy, demonstrating a high half-wave potential (0.868 V) and power density (196 mW cm -2 ).

We herein report a convenient and effective method for the purification of DNA-conjugated materials with a benchtop minicentrifuge. We demonstrate the fast isolation of DNA-modified small gold nanoparticles (5 nm), liposomes, and DNA nanostructures using fluorescent methods and gel electrophoresis. Our method is cost-effective and efficient and would accelerate the development of DNA nanotechnology.

Ammonium phosphate ((NH 4 ) 3 PO 4 ) has been first used as a surface treatment reagent for Li-rich cathode materials. Compared to the conventional surface treatment, the samples treated with (NH 4 ) 3 PO 4 exhibit an ultra-high initial Coulomb efficiency of 98.0% and excellent cycling stability. This is mainly attributed to the simultaneous construction of surface integrated structures, including oxygen vacancies, spinel phases, and Li 3 PO 4 coating. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of ammonium phosphate surface treatment and provides a new idea for designing other cathode materials.

A twisted dumbbell-like chiral superstructure can be easily assembled in aragonite under the co-action of CTAB and Mg 2+ , producing a microstructure that is very similar to that of Turritella terebra shell. Asymmetric adsorption of the CTAB head group on aragonite, namely "adsorption chirality", is the reason for the chiral assembly.

A multifunctional reactive fluorescent probe DTB was constructed for biosensing, aggregation inhibition, and toxicity alleviation of β-amyloid. The synergistic effect of hydrophobic interaction and covalent interaction makes DTB have more stable binding and better selectivity to Aβ. The detoxification effect of DTB on Aβ aggregates was also verified in live nerve cells and microglia cells. Furthermore, DTB exhibits an excellent staining of Aβ plaques.

Nanosheet-based MFI membranes, known to be highly selective for hydrocarbon isomer separations, exhibit an NH3/N2 mixture separation factor of 2236 with NH3 permeance of 1.1 × 10-6 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1, and NH3/H2 separation factor of 307 with NH3 permeance of 2.3 × 10-6 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 at room temperature. Consistent with a competitive sorption-based separation, lower operating temperatures and higher pressures result in increased separation factor. At 323 K, with an equimolar mixed feed of NH3/N2, the fluxes and separation factors at 3 and 7 bar are 0.13 mol m-2 s-1 and 191, and 0.26 mol m-2 s-1 and 220, respectively. This performance compares favorably with that of other membranes and suggests that MFI membranes can be used in separation and purification processes involving mixtures of NH3/N2/H2 encountered in ammonia synthesis and utilization. The membranes also exhibit high performance for the separation of ethane, n-propane and n-butane from H2.

We propose a stable and highly sensitive Au-Se SERS nanoprobe for bioimaging and in situ quantitation, which aims to break through the limitations of traditional Au-S SERS nanoprobes, such as interference from biothiols and unsatisfactory SERS efficiency.

Two electrochromic polymers based on thiophene-benzene derivatives were prepared using an electrochemical method and exhibited multiple separate redox couples due to the introduction of side chains. The energy storage states of electrochromic supercapacitors based on the resulting polymers could be monitored by their appearance colour.

The N and O atoms in the bidentate ligand 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) can simultaneously coordinate with Sn 2+ , which greatly inhibits the oxidation of Sn 2+ . The formation of complexes improves the quality of FASnI 3 films and reduces defect states, resulting in improvements in the efficiency and stability of FASnI 3 -based perovskite solar cells.

A new atomic structure of chiral thiolate-protected gold nanocluster Au22(SR)17- is predicted on the basis of the new ligand-binding strategy, namely, redistributing the Au-S "staple" motifs on the well-known Au10 core from previously laboratory-determined Au21(SR)15 crystal structure. Density functional theory calculations show that this structure is very likely the realistic structure for the synthesized Au22(SR)17-.

In our report, we found a distinct difference in azido sugar metabolic rate between neural stem cells and fibroblasts, which can be used for selective removal of fibroblasts from neural stem cell mixtures. Chemically induced neural stem cells (ciNSCs) serve as a highly valuable source of NSCs. Incompletely induced fibroblasts could interfere with ciNSC differentiation and become tumorigenic. Herein, we applied our method for the decontamination of ciNSCs and it exhibited excellent selectivity for ciNSCs. The results demonstrate that the ciNSC population can be efficiently purified to 98.1%. As far as we know, this is the highest purity obtained so far. We envision that, in the future, our method could be used as a safe, effective, and chemically-defined tool for decontaminating ciNSCs in both fundamental research and clinical stem cell therapy.

A copper-catalyzed 1,4-addition reaction of sulfonyl iodides with 1,3-enynes affording various allenyl halides in high yields under mild conditions has been developed. Mechanistic studies showed that the reaction proceeds through a radical mechanism.

Bendable nickel oxide (NiOx) was first fabricated via polydopamine (PDA) modification and applied as an interfacial layer in flexible perovskite solar cells. PDA cross-linked NiOx could release mechanical stress to eliminate the inherent brittleness of inorganic crystals, leading to a flexible device exhibit over 70% retention of efficiency after 1000 bending cycles.

An ultrathin photosensitizer was prepared by immobilization of chlorin e6 (Ce6) and carbon dots (CDs) onto layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets, which exhibited excellent fluorescence imaging and photodynamic therapy performance toward cancer theranostics.

We report a simple strategy for the growth of ultra-thin magnetite nanoplates. The injection of a large portion of precursor after stunted nucleation is favorable for both the survival of metastable structures in seeds and their subsequent development into anisotropic nanoparticles. The as-synthesized ultrathin triangular magnetite nanoplates are expected to have important applications as T 1 contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging.

Evenly dispersed tungsten carbides with controlled phase compositions that exhibit an impressive capacity to carry out the regioselective hydrogenolysis of inert aryl ether C-O bonds instead of aliphatic C-O bonds to produce aromatic compounds are reported.

The spontaneous dipole alignment of PVDF has been achieved in the formation process of a film through strong hydrogen bonds between PVDF and layered double hydroxides (LDHs), and the as-prepared composite film exhibits excellent energy conversion and storage ability.

Copper nanoparticles exsoluted in situ under a reducing atmosphere at elevated temperatures are socketed into the parent copper phyllosilicate nanotubes and exhibit excellent catalytic performance and superior stability for the selective hydrogenation of various esters to alcohols.

Herein, we report a one-step synthesis method for octahedral Pt-Ni-Co ternary catalysts with tunable compositions and fixed shapes. Impressively, the composition optimized octahedral PtNi 0.55 Co 0.1 /C demonstrated a significant improvement in ORR activity compared to those of previously reported Pt-Ni-Co alloy octahedra, showing an outstanding specific activity of 5.05 mA cm -2 and a mass activity of 2.80 mA μg Pt -1 , which are around 20.2 times and 14.7 times higher than those of the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.25 mA cm -2 and 0.19 mA μg Pt -1 ).

A novel resistance type humidity sensor was fabricated using poly(ionic liquid)s PEVIm-Br, which not only exhibited high sensitivity at a relative humidity (RH) in the range of 11-98%, but also featured short response and recovery time, as well as small hysteresis and good repeatability, proving poly(ionic liquid)s to be promising sensing materials for high-performance humidity sensors.

A flexible ultrathin film based on alternate assembly of a sodium polyacrylate (PAA) modified styrylbiphenyl derivative (BTBS) and layered double hydroxide nanosheets is fabricated, which exhibits pressure-responsive photoluminescence with a high sensitivity and good reversibility.

We demonstrate VPO composites as efficient catalysts for highly selective oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid with NO2. In particular, the Ni-Al-VPO composite catalyst exhibits the striking conversion of cyclohexane (60.6%) and exceptionally high selectivity towards adipic acid (85.0%). Moreover, N2O is an environmentally harmful gas, and its yield in the present process is only 0.03 t/t adipic acid, which is far below that obtained using the industrial method (0.3 t/t adipic acid). This work provides a new strategy for the one-step synthesis of dicarboxylic acids from cycloalkanes.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are a family of layer materials that receive heightened attention. Herein a ternary NiFeMn-LDH is investigated with superior oxygen evolution activity, which is attributed to the Mn(4+) doping in the intralayer, which modifies the electronic structure and improves the conductivity of the electrocatalyst.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted increasing interest in electrochemical energy storage and conversion. As typical 2D materials, layered double hydroxides (LDHs) display large potential in this area due to the facile tunability of their composition, structure and morphology. Various preparation strategies, including in situ growth, electrodeposition and layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly, have been developed to directly modify electrodes by using LDH materials. Moreover, several composite materials based on LDHs and conductive matrices have also been rationally designed and employed in supercapacitors, batteries and electrocatalysis with largely enhanced performances. This feature article summarizes the latest developments in the design, preparation and evaluation of LDH materials toward electrochemical energy storage and conversion.

Emerging characteristics upon nitrogen-doping were differentiated in the activation of superoxides over single-walled carbon nanotubes. Both experimental and theoretical studies revealed that enhanced peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation is ascribed to a nonradical process while persulfate (PS) activation is accelerated via directly oxidizing water, yet hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) activation is inert to N-doping. This study details the first insights into versatile N-doping in carbocatalysis for organic oxidation in sustainable remediation.

A novel RNA FRET probe that can produce target-dependent signal amplification with the catalysis of RNase H has been developed for detection of rolling circle amplification (RCA) products with greatly improved sensitivity.

Hierarchical structured α-Al2O3 is shown to be able to effectively disperse and immobilize iron species, in comparison with commercial α-Al2O3. After promotion using an appropriate amount of sulfur, iron catalysts exhibit not only enhanced Fischer-Tropsch synthesis activity and selectivity toward lower olefins, but also increased resistance against carbon deposits.

Herein, for the first time, we reported a general approach of plasma engineering to tune the surface properties and edge reactive sites for greatly improving HER (hydrogen evolution) activity of MoS2. We show that the Ar or O2 plasma can be used to generate a large number of physical and chemical defects in 2D crystals to modify the electronic properties and increase the number of active sites in MoS2. Electrocatalytic studies show that the plasma-treated MoS2 exhibits significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for HER.

We have developed a new ligase chain reaction-based colorimetric assay for detection of DNA methylation with ultrahigh sensitivity and selectivity. Using the proposed assay, as low as 0.01 fM methylated DNA can be detected by visualization of color changes of gold nanoparticles with the naked eye.

A targeted photosensitizer used in photodynamic therapy (PDT) was fabricated by incorporation of zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and folic acid (FA) into polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) micelles, which exhibits excellent anticancer performance revealed by both in vitro studies and in vivo tests.

Inorganic nanomaterials including gold nanoparticles, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, graphene, magnetic nanoparticles, quantum dots and layered double hydroxides have become one of the most active research fields in biochemistry, biotechnology and biomedicine. Benefiting from the facile synthesis/modification, intrinsically physicochemical properties and good biocompatibility, inorganic nanomaterials have shown great potential in bioimaging, targeted drug delivery and cancer therapies. This Feature Article summarizes recent progress on various inorganic nanocarriers, including the background, synthesis, modification, cytotoxicity, physicochemical properties as well as their applications in biomedicine.

Hybrid films were fabricated via layer-by-layer assembly of layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoplatelets and poly(sodium styrene-4-sulfonate) (PSS) followed by subsequent permeation of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), which show excellent oxygen barrier performance with humidity-triggered self-healing capability.

Fabricating active materials into specific macrostructures is critical in the pursuit of high electro-catalytic activity. Herein we demonstrate that a three-dimensional (3D) architecture of NiFe layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) significantly reduced the onset potential, yielded high current density at small overpotentials, and showed outstanding stability in electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction.

We demonstrate an unprecedented H2 generation activity in the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane over acid oxidation- and subsequent high temperature-treated CNT immobilized Pt nanocatalysts to combine the merits of defect-rich and oxygen group-deficient surfaces and unique textural properties of supports as well as optimum particle size of Pt.

Supported Ni@(RhNi-alloy) nanoparticles with a core-shell structure were prepared, which serve as an excellent catalyst towards hydrogen generation from N2H4BH3.

A smart supercapacitor was fabricated by loading a thermosensitive polymer P(NIPAM-co-SPMA) onto the surface of NiAl-layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanowalls grown on a flexible Ni foil substrate, which displays temperature-triggered on-off ion channels for controlling the electrochemical behavior.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are a class of clays with brucite-like layers and intercalated anions which have attracted increasing interest in the field of catalysis. Benefiting from the atomic-scale uniform distribution of metal cations in the brucite-like layers and the ability to intercalate a diverse range of interlayer anions, LDHs display great potential as precursors/supports to prepare catalysts, in that the catalytic sites can be preferentially orientated, highly dispersed, and firmly stabilized to afford excellent catalytic performance and recyclability. The approaches to prepare catalysts based on LDH materials include, but are not limited to, exfoliation of the brucite-like layers, lattice orientation/lattice confinement by the brucite-like layers, and intercalation. This Feature Article summarizes the latest developments in the design and preparation of nanocatalysts by using LDHs as precursors/supports.

A rare sty type microporous metal-organic framework, Cu(2)(FDDI) (; H(4)FDDI = tetramethyl 5,5'-(9H-fluorene-2,7-diyl)diisophthalate acid), was solvothermally synthesized and structurally characterized. With open metal sites and suitable pore space for their interactions with methane molecules, exhibits absolute methane storage of 180 cm(3)(STP) cm(-3) at room temperature and 35 bar, enabling it to be one of the very few porous MOFs whose methane storage capacities have met and/or approached the DOE target of 180 cm(3)(STP) cm(-3) for material-based methane storage.

Ordered ultrathin films based on alternate assembly of CdTe QDs and layered double hydroxide monolayers have been fabricated, which can be used as a photoluminescence temperature sensor with dual-parameter signals and high response sensitivity.

In this study, we prepared high-stability hematite mesocrystals by a facile route without polymer additives. In particular, the rhombic hematite mesocrystals exhibit excellent lithium insertion behavior compared to the hematite single-crystals.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) may be responsible for tumor recurrence. Metabolic labelling of newly synthesized proteins with non-canonical amino acids allows us to discriminate CSCs in mixed populations due to the quiescent nature of these cells.

Graphene nanosheets have been generated in the confined space of the two-dimensional galleries of a layered double hydroxide (LDH) and good control over the number of graphene layers can be achieved by adjusting the amounts of intercalated carbon source.

Large-scale arrays of hierarchical cobalt iron oxide nanowires with preferentially exposed reactive crystal planes have been fabricated for use as structured catalysts, which showed high catalytic activity and excellent cycling stability., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012)

A ZnO nanocatalyst with a high percentage exposure of (0001) facets embedded on a hierarchical flower-like matrix has been prepared by an in situ topotactic transformation of a layered double hydroxide precursor, and exhibits significantly higher visible light photocatalytic performance than other ZnO nanomaterials with fewer exposed (0001) facets., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011)

The first near-infrared fluorescent probe was developed toward Cu(2+). Based on the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) mechanism, the probe exhibited weak fluorescence. Upon the addition of Cu(2+), it fluoresced strongly. The probe offered this unique capability, and was successfully applied to living cells, tissues and in vivo to visualize Cu(2+).