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Abstract Hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) nanomaterials are a rising star in the field of biomedicine. This review presents an overview of the progress in h‐BN nanomaterials for biological applications. It begins with a general introduction of the structural characteristics of h‐BN, followed by the brief introduction of its physical and chemical properties, including thermal, band and mechanical properties, chemical reactivity, biodegradability and biocompatibility, then emphasizes on the recent progress in the biomedical applications including drug delivery, boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), bioimaging and nanozyme, and ends with the challenges and perspectives related to the biomedical applications. The advantages of BN nanomaterials used for biomedical applications were analyzed, and their problems were also discussed, inspiring the future rational designs of the BN nanomedicines.

The structural and electronic properties of ReS2 different forms — three-dimensional bulk and two-dimensional monolayer — were studied within density functional theory and pseudopotentials. A method for standardizing the description of bulk unit cells and ''artificial'' slab unit cells for DFT research has been proposed. The preference of this method for studying zone dispersion has been shown. The influence of the vacuum layer thickness on specified special high-symmetry points is discussed. Electron band dispersion in both classical 3D Brillouin zones and transition to 2D Brillouin zones in the proposed two-dimensional approach using the Niggli form of the unit cell was compared. The proposed two-dimensional approach is preferable for low-symmetry layered crystals such as ReS2. It was established that the bulk ReS2 is a direct gap semiconductor (band gap of 1.20 eV), with the direct transition lying in the X point of the first Brillouin zone, and it is in good agreement with published experimental data. The reduction in material dimension from bulk to monolayer was conducted with an increasing band gap up to 1.45 eV, with a moving direct transition towards the Brillouin zone center. The monolayer of ReS2 is a direct-gap semiconductor in a wide range of temperatures, excluding only a narrow range at low temperatures, where it comes as a quasi-direct gap semiconductor. The transition, situated directly in the Γ-point, lies 3.3 meV below the first direct transition located near this point. The electronic density of states of ReS2 in the bulk and monolayer cases of ReS2 were analyzed. The molecular orbitals were built for both types of ReS2 structures as well as the electron difference density maps. For all types of ReS2 structures, an analysis of populations according to Mulliken and Voronoi was carried out. All calculated data is discussed in the context of weak quantum confinement in the 2D case.

Abstract Rational design of microsystems and efficient integration of various functional modules that can directly realize the aimed functions are very attractive for portable and onsite practical applications, which is also significant in developing miniaturized and intelligent electronics and equipment. Unlike the conventional electrochemical glucose sensors that always need auxiliary complex systems for power supply, signal processing, and feedbacks, we design an all‐printed glucose sensor integrated with a zinc ion microbattery (ZIMB) as a micropower source for portable and onsite quick glucose detections. The integrated glucose sensor (GS) and ZIMB (iGS‐ZIMB) system possesses a high areal energy density of 247.3 μWh/cm2 and power density of 1193 μW/cm2 and exhibits high sensitivity up to 464.2 μA/mM/cm2, wide linear range of 0.5–6.0 mM, and good reproducibility in glucose detections. Through a simple amplification circuit design, the glucose concentration signals could be displayed within a short response time of 1.6 s without the need of external auxiliary equipment. Such iGS‐ZIMB microsystem has prominent advantages in efficiency and cost and is promising for onsite medical and healthcare applications.

The lithium-sulfur battery (Li–S) is a promising energy storage system with many advantages over the commercialized lithium-ion battery. It has a high theoretical capacity of 1675 mAh g−1, a high theoretical energy density (2600 Wh kg−1), and is eco-environmentally friendly. Although only a small amount is used (

Abstract Nanomaterials having enzyme‐like activities are recognized as potentially important self‐therapeutic nanomedicines. Herein, a peroxidase‐like artificial enzyme is developed based on novel biodegradable boron oxynitride (BON) nanostructures for highly efficient and multi‐mode breast cancer therapies. The BON nanozyme catalytically generates cytotoxic hydroxyl radicals, which induce apoptosis of 4T1 cancer cells and significantly reduce the cell viability by 82% in 48 h. In vivo experiment reveals a high potency of the BON nanozyme for breast tumor growth inhibitions by 97% after 14‐day treatment compared with the control, which are 10 times or 1.3 times more effective than the inert or B‐releasing boron nitride (BN) nanospheres, respectively. This work highlights the BON nanozyme and its functional integrations within the BN nanomedicine platform for high‐potency breast cancer therapies.

The rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) has brought about great demand for high-performance sensors as well as power supply devices for those sensors. In this respect, the integration of sensors and energy storage devices, or the development of multifunctional devices having both energy storage and sensing properties, is of great interest in the development of compact sensing systems. As a proof of concept, a zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitor (ZHS) based on a double-crosslinked hydrogel electrolyte is developed in this work, which can be employed not only as an energy storage device, but also as a self-powered sensor for human movement and breathing detection. The ZHS delivers a capacitance of 779 F g−1 and an energy density of 0.32 mWh cm−2 at a power density of 0.34 mW cm−2, as well as sensitive resistance response to strain. Our work provides a useful basis for future designs of self-powered sensing devices and function-integrated systems.

Use of soluble boron compounds in prostate cancer therapy is hampered by their short half-life time and low effectiveness. Here, the authors show that boron nitride nanospheres with controlled boron release can reduce proliferation of prostate cancer cells and inhibit tumour growth in animal models.