Search

The rapid development of digital society and artificial intelligence has triggered explosive demands for specialty plastics, especially conjugated polymers that are instrumental for flexible electronics and smart devices. The recycling and degradation of postconsumer conjugated polymers have become more important than ever to reduce the pressure to the environment. Here we report the discovery of an environmentally self-degradable conjugated polymer poly(deca-4,6-diynedioic acid), or PDDA. PDDA is stable in the dark or without oxygen when used as a functional material. However, when exposed to sunlight and air after the service life, PDDA disintegrates rapidly and fully decomposes through photooxidation in a week, yielding biocompatible, value-added succinic acid as a major degradation product. The complete degradation of PDDA into green upcycling products by sunlight in air, without leaving any microplastics, not only renders a pioneering paradigm of environmentally self-degradable conjugated polymers but also inspires developing effective strategies to completely degrade postconsumer conjugated polymers in a natural environment.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have a severe impact on human health, aquatic ecosystems, and the economy. There is still a lack of effective means to control algal blooms. Herein, TVP-A, a positively charged photosensitizer with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics is introduced as a super-efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly agent for the governance of HABs. TVP-A efficiently harvests white light to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Due to its positive surface charge, TVP-A has good water solubility and quickly adsorbs onto algal cells floating on the surface of water, triggering algal cell death through oxidative destruction of the nuclei and chloroplasts of algae. TVP-A is effective at low concentrations and requires sunlight irradiation periods of only a few minutes to destroy algal blooms, making it applicable for large scale algal bloom control under most weather conditions. Further, TVP-A is non-toxic to fish, mice or mammalian cells. The slow self-degradation of TVP-A during the photodynamic control of algal blooms prevents environmental accumulation or secondary pollution to ecological systems. TVP-A therefore serves as an excellent candidate for the green governance of HABs.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have a severe impact on human health, aquatic ecosystems, and the economy. There is still a lack of effective means to control algal blooms. Herein, TVP-A, a positively charged photosensitizer with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics is introduced as a super-efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly agent for the governance of HABs. TVP-A efficiently harvests white light to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Due to its positive surface charge, TVP-A has good water solubility and quickly adsorbs onto algal cells floating on the surface of water, triggering algal cell death through oxidative destruction of the nuclei and chloroplasts of algae. TVP-A is effective at low concentrations and requires sunlight irradiation periods of only a few minutes to destroy algal blooms, making it applicable for large scale algal bloom control under most weather conditions. Further, TVP-A is non-toxic to fish, mice or mammalian cells. The slow self-degradation of TVP-A during the photodynamic control of algal blooms prevents environmental accumulation or secondary pollution to ecological systems. TVP-A therefore serves as an excellent candidate for the green governance of HABs.

The rapid development of digital society and artificial intelligence has triggered explosive demands for specialty plastics, especially conjugated polymers that are instrumental for flexible electronics and smart devices. The recycling and degradation of postconsumer conjugated polymers have become more important than ever to reduce the pressure to the environment. Here we report the discovery of an environmentally self-degradable conjugated polymer poly(deca-4,6-diynedioic acid), or PDDA. PDDA is stable in the dark or without oxygen when used as a functional material. However, when exposed to sunlight and air after the service life, PDDA disintegrates rapidly and fully decomposes through photooxidation in a week, yielding biocompatible, value-added succinic acid as a major degradation product. The complete degradation of PDDA into green upcycling products by sunlight in air, without leaving any microplastics, not only renders a pioneering paradigm of environmentally self-degradable conjugated polymers but also inspires developing effective strategies to completely degrade postconsumer conjugated polymers in a natural environment.

The rapid development of digital society and artificial intelligence has triggered explosive demands for specialty plastics, especially conjugated polymers that are instrumental for flexible electronics and smart devices. The recycling and degradation of postconsumer conjugated polymers have become more important than ever to reduce the pressure to the environment. Here we report the discovery of an environmentally self-degradable conjugated polymer poly(deca-4,6-diynedioic acid), or PDDA. PDDA is stable in the dark or without oxygen when used as a functional material. However, when exposed to sunlight and air after the service life, PDDA disintegrates rapidly and fully decomposes through photooxidation in a week, yielding biocompatible, value-added succinic acid as a major degradation product. The complete degradation of PDDA into green upcycling products by sunlight in air, without leaving any microplastics, not only renders a pioneering paradigm of environmentally self-degradable conjugated polymers but also inspires developing effective strategies to completely degrade postconsumer conjugated polymers in a natural environment.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have a severe impact on human health, aquatic ecosystems, and the economy. There is still a lack of effective means to control algal blooms. Herein, TVP-A, a positively charged photosensitizer with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics is introduced as a super-efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly agent for the governance of HABs. TVP-A efficiently harvests white light to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Due to its positive surface charge, TVP-A has good water solubility and quickly adsorbs onto algal cells floating on the surface of water, triggering algal cell death through oxidative destruction of the nuclei and chloroplasts of algae. TVP-A is effective at low concentrations and requires sunlight irradiation periods of only a few minutes to destroy algal blooms, making it applicable for large scale algal bloom control under most weather conditions. Further, TVP-A is non-toxic to fish, mice or mammalian cells. The slow self-degradation of TVP-A during the photodynamic control of algal blooms prevents environmental accumulation or secondary pollution to ecological systems. TVP-A therefore serves as an excellent candidate for the green governance of HABs.

A dual-functional photosensitizer that demonstrates exceptional photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy while simultaneously self-monitoring the therapeutic response in real time is reported here. Possessing an ultrahigh 1O2 quantum yield of 98.6% in water, the photosensitizer TPCI can efficiently induce cell death in a series of carcinoma cells (IC50 values less than 300 × 10−9 m) upon irradiation with an extremely low fluence (460 nm, 4 mW cm−2 for 10 min). In addition, TPCI can self-monitor cell death in real time. It is weakly fluorescent in living cells before irradiation and lights up the nuclei concomitantly with cell death during PDT treatment by binding with chromatin to activate its aggregation-induced emission, attributed to its strong binding affinity with DNA. In vivo studies using mouse models bearing H22 and B16F10 tumor cells validate the ultraefficient PDT efficacy of TPCI as well as the precise real-time noninvasive readout of the tumor response from the beginning of cancer treatment. The dual-functional TPCI serves as an excellent candidate for single-agent photodynamic theranostics, and this work represents a new paradigm for the development of molecules with multiple intrinsic functions for future self-reporting medical applications.

A dual-functional photosensitizer that demonstrates exceptional photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy while simultaneously self-monitoring the therapeutic response in real time is reported here. Possessing an ultrahigh 1O2 quantum yield of 98.6% in water, the photosensitizer TPCI can efficiently induce cell death in a series of carcinoma cells (IC50 values less than 300 × 10−9 m) upon irradiation with an extremely low fluence (460 nm, 4 mW cm−2 for 10 min). In addition, TPCI can self-monitor cell death in real time. It is weakly fluorescent in living cells before irradiation and lights up the nuclei concomitantly with cell death during PDT treatment by binding with chromatin to activate its aggregation-induced emission, attributed to its strong binding affinity with DNA. In vivo studies using mouse models bearing H22 and B16F10 tumor cells validate the ultraefficient PDT efficacy of TPCI as well as the precise real-time noninvasive readout of the tumor response from the beginning of cancer treatment. The dual-functional TPCI serves as an excellent candidate for single-agent photodynamic theranostics, and this work represents a new paradigm for the development of molecules with multiple intrinsic functions for future self-reporting medical applications.