Search

An urgent need in chemodynamic therapy (CDT) is to achieve high Fenton catalytic efficiency at small doses of CDT agents. However, simple general promotion of the Fenton reaction increases the risk of damaging normal cells along with the cancer cells. Therefore, a tailored strategy to selectively enhance the Fenton reactivity in tumors, for example, by taking advantage of the characteristics of the tumor microenvironment (TME), is in high demand. Herein, a heterogeneous CDT system based on copper-iron peroxide nanoparticles (CFp NPs) is designed for TME-mediated synergistic therapy. CFp NPs degrade under the mildly acidic conditions of TME, self-supply H 2 O 2 , and the released Cu and Fe ions, with their larger portions at lower oxidation states, cooperatively facilitate hydroxyl radical production through a highly efficient catalytic loop to achieve an excellent tumor therapeutic efficacy. This is distinct from previous heterogeneous CDT systems in that the synergism is closely coupled with the Cu + -assisted conversion of Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ rather than their independent actions. As a result, almost complete ablation of tumors at a minimal treatment dose is demonstrated without the aid of any other therapeutic modality. Furthermore, CFp NPs generate O 2 during the catalysis and exhibit a TME-responsive T 1 magnetic resonance imaging contrast enhancement, which are useful for alleviating hypoxia and in vivo monitoring of tumors, respectively.

Compared to nanostructured platinum (Pt) catalysts, ordered Pt-based intermetallic nanoparticles supported on a carbon substrate exhibit much enhanced catalytic performance, especially in fuel cell electrocatalysis. However, direct synthesis of homogeneous intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts on carbonaceous supports with high loading is still challenging. Herein, we report a novel synthetic strategy to directly produce highly dispersed MPt alloy nanoparticles (M = Fe, Co, or Ni) on various carbon supports with high catalyst loading. Importantly, a unique bimetallic compound, composed of [M(bpy) 3 ] 2+ cation (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) and [PtCl 6 ] 2- anion, evenly decomposes on carbon surface and forms uniformly sized intermetallic nanoparticles with a nitrogen-doped carbon protection layer. The excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability of the representative reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-supported L1 0 -FePt catalyst (37 wt %-FePt/rGO), exhibiting 18.8 times higher specific activity than commercial Pt/C catalyst without degradation over 20 000 cycles, well demonstrate the effectiveness of our synthetic approach toward uniformly alloyed nanoparticles with high homogeneity.

Integrated with heat-generating devices, a Li-ion battery (LIB) often operates at 20-40 °C higher than the ordinary working temperature. Although macroscopic investigation of the thermal contribution has shown a significant reduction in the LIB performance, the molecular level structural and chemical origin of battery aging in a mild thermal environment has not been elucidated. On the basis of the combined experiments of the electrochemical measurements, Cs-corrected electron microscopy, and in situ analyses, we herein provide operando structural and chemical insights on how a mild thermal environment affects the overall battery performance using anatase TiO 2 as a model intercalation compound. Interestingly, a mild thermal condition induces excess lithium intercalation even at near-ambient temperature (45 °C), which does not occur at the ordinary working temperature. The anomalous intercalation enables excess lithium storage in the first few cycles but exerts severe intracrystal stress, consequently cracking the crystal that leads to battery aging. Importantly, this mild thermal effect is accumulated upon cycling, resulting in irreversible capacity loss even after the thermal condition is removed. Battery aging at a high working temperature is universal in nearly all intercalation compounds, and therefore, it is significant to understand how the thermal condition contributes to battery aging for designing intercalation compounds for advanced battery electrode materials.

The mechanisms involved in the activation of persulfate by nanosized zero-valent iron (NZVI) were elucidated and the NZVI transformation products identified. Two distinct reaction stages, in terms of the kinetics and radical formation mechanism, were found when phenol was oxidized by the persulfate/NZVI system. In the initial stage, lasting 10 min, Fe 0 (s) was consumed rapidly and sulfate radicals were produced through activation by aqueous Fe 2+ . The second stage was governed by Fe catalyzed activation in the presence of aqueous Fe 3+ and iron (oxyhydr)oxides in the NZVI shells. The second stage was 3 orders of magnitude slower than the initial stage. An electron balance showed that the sulfate radical yield per mole of persulfate was more than two times higher in the persulfate/NZVI system than in the persulfate/Fe 2+ system. Radicals were believed to be produced more efficiently in the persulfate/NZVI system because aqueous Fe 2+ was supplied slowly, preventing sulfate radicals being scavenged by excess aqueous Fe 2+ . In the second stage, the multilayered shell conducted electrons, and magnetite in the shell provided electrons for the activation of persulfate. Iron speciation analysis (including X-ray absorption spectroscopy) results indicated that a shrinking core/growing shell model explained NZVI transformation during the persulfate/NZVI process.