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International audience; Using solid-liquid hybrid electrolytes is an effective strategy to overcome the large solid/solid interfacial resistance in all-solid-state batteries and the safety problems in liquid batteries. The properties of the solid/liquid electrolyte interphase layer (SLEI) are essential for the performance of solid-liquid hybrid electrolytes. In this work, the solvation reactions between Li(2)S-P(2)S(5) glass-ceramic solid electrolytes (SEs) and ether electrolytes were studied, and their influence on the SLEI was examined. Although 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) reacted with the Li(2)S-P(2)S(5) glass-ceramic SE to form a dense SLEI, 1,3-dioxolane (DOL) severely corroded the SE, resulting in a loose SLEI. Consequently, a stable SLEI formed with DME. Using a combination of the Li(2)S-P(2)S(5) glass-ceramic SE and the DME-based liquid electrolyte (LE), stable lithium plating/stripping cycles over 1000 h and a hybrid Li-S battery that retained a specific capacity of 730 mAh g(-1) after 200 cycles were demonstrated. The knowledge of the reactions between the sulfide electrolytes and the organic LEs is instructive for the design of stable sulfide-liquid hybrid electrolytes for advanced batteries.

Two kinds of ladder-type conjugated polymers were concisely synthesized by the formation of single-stranded conjugated polymers via Stille cross-couplings, followed by nitrogen-directed electrophilic borylations at electron-rich aromatic rings. The resulting BN-annulated polymers show good film-forming behaviors and high air and thermal stability. Their structurally shape-persistent rigid backbones render them with π-extended conjugation, allowing for efficient light harvesting in the low-energy regions, and emitting strong fluorescence with narrow emission widths.

It is increasingly recognized that the cellular microenvironment plays critical roles in regulating the fate and physiology of cells. Despite recent advancements in single-cell analysis technologies, engineering and integration of the microenvironment for single-cell analysis platforms remain limited. Here, we report a single-cell cytokine secretion analysis platform that integrated both the three-dimensional cell culture and the primary oral squamous cell carcinoma tumor cell co-culture to provide both physical and physiological cues for single cells to be analyzed. We apply the platform to investigate the immune responses of human macrophages stimulated with the ligand of toll-like receptor 4 lipopolysaccharide. Notably, we observe the differential modulation effect in cytokine secretions by the tumor microenvironment, in which antitumor cytokine TNF-a secretion was attenuated, and protumor cytokine IL-6 would increase. The differential modulation effect is conserved from cell line-derived macrophages to primary macrophages derived from healthy donors. Immunofluorescence staining further reveals that ∼50% of macrophage cells could be polarized from M1 to the M2 phenotype within 12 h in the engineered tumor microenvironment. This work demonstrates the significance of the cell microenvironment toward single-cell analysis, which could help to evaluate how immune cells will respond in the complex microenvironment more accurately.

The development of polymer-based thermal management materials (TMMs) is crucial to address the frequency reduction or overheating damage of modern electronics caused by inadequate thermal conductivity of substrates. However, high interfacial thermal resistance between filler and filler or between filler and matrix creates paramount bottlenecks for the prominent thermal conduction in polymer-based composites. Herein, novel tanghulu-like MoS2–SiC nanowire (L-MoS2–SiCNW) and cattail-like H-MoS2–SiCNW hybrids are successfully fabricated via a facile hydrothermal method, and then incorporated into a green cellulose nanofiber (CNF) matrix by a vacuum-assisted filtration approach. MoS2 nanosheets tightly rooted to the surface of SiCNWs can bridge the gap between SiCNWs and increase the contact area between them, which consequently leads to the large reduction of interfacial thermal resistance. As a result, the maximum in-plane TC of 19.76 W m−1 K−1 is attained for the flexible CNF/H-MoS2–SiCNW film at a relatively low filler content of 22.5 vol%, which has an enhancement of 1408% in contrast to that of the pure CNF film. In addition, the volume resistivity of the flexible CNF/H-MoS2–SiCNW film is two orders of magnitude higher than that of pure CNF, which is far above the required resistance for electrical insulation. In the real TMM application measurement of CNF/H-MoS2–SiCNWs, the temperature of the CPU core with the CNF/H-MoS2–SiCNW heat spreader is elevated more slowly than that of the bare case (e.g.: Δ = 4.9 °C at 980 s). Thus, this investigation provides a valuable insight into the design and fabrication of favorable polymer-based TMMs for potential applications in microelectronics and advanced energy.

International audience; Understanding the electrochemical processes in all-solid-state lithium‑sulfur batteries is essential for designing high-performance devices. Here, the evolution of the electrochemical impedance spectra of an all-solid-state lithium‑sulfur battery during one charge/discharge cycle was quantitatively investigated with a reasonably established equivalent circuit. The impedance spectra could be decomposed into several parts as follows: the bulk resistance of solid electrolyte and current collector at highest frequency, three semicircles from high to low frequency corresponding to the dynamic processes at different interfaces and a 45° straight line followed by an inclined small tail at low frequency. It is found that the middle frequency semicircle, corresponding to charge transfer at the cathode, varied obviously during the charge/discharge cycle. Moreover, the 45° straight line, which is attributed to the Li diffusion in the cathode material LixS based on qualitative analysis, dominates the impedance spectra, revealing that the main kinetics-limiting factor is the Li diffusion in the active materials. Finally, an electrochemical model of the battery is proposed which provides insight for the designing of high-performance all-solid-state lithium‑sulfur batteries.

This paper details a new method for characterizing the interfacial bonding performance of short-fiber reinforced rubber composites and its correlation with fatigue properties. Meanwhile, the experimental study of interfacial damage during the fatigue process is presented. Aramid fiber (AF) was modified with an aqueous solution of lithium chloride and then coated with butadiene styrene vinyl-pyridine rubber latex (VPL) or maleated polybutadiene liquid rubber (MLPB). Subsequently, the coated AF was introduced into a butadiene styrene rubber (SBR) matrix to fabricate reinforced butadiene styrene rubber/carbon black/aramid fiber (SBR/CB/AF) composites. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to identify the flexible interface layer of the SBR composites. After 30,000 fatigue cycles, the modulus of the interface layer was obviously reduced to below that of the SBR matrix, which produced hysteresis of the reinforcing effect of AF due to concentrated damage in the interface layer. The relative debonding energy (RDE) is innovatively introduced to characterize the interfacial adhesion performance. A higher RDE value can lead to the interface layer absorbing more deformation work and a longer fatigue life of the composite. SBR reinforced by T-AF/MLPB, with its high modulus interface, has the longest fatigue life, corresponding to the highest RDE value.

Molecular simulations in the canonical ensemble were performed to probe a variety of thermophysical properties of both homogeneously stretched and bubbly water systems at a temperature of 298 K. Tw...

Supramolecular chemistry provides a means to integrate multi-type molecules leading to a dynamic organization. The study of functional nanoscale drug-delivery systems based on supramolecular interactions is a recent trend. Much work has focused on the design of supramolecular building blocks and the engineering of supramolecular integration, with the goal of optimized delivery behavior and enhanced therapeutic effect. This review introduces recent advances in supramolecular designs of nanoscale drug delivery. Supramolecular affinity can act as a main driving force either in the self-assembly of carriers or in the loading of drugs. It is also possible to employ strong recognitions to achieve self-delivery of drugs. Due to dynamic controllable drug-release properties, the supramolecular nanoscale drug-delivery system provides a promising platform for precision medicine.

Hydrophobic PLLA porous materials exhibits excellent oil-removal performance, fabricated by a simple slow solvent-evaporation induced precipitation method, which is of significance for curbing oil-pollution environment. Therefore, porous PLLA materials with tunable microstructures (fibrous networks, microsphere and multiple structures) were conveniently manufactured by adjusting the preparation parameters, solution concentration and precipitation temperature. The results show the wettability of the prepared porous materials could be controlled by the tailorable hierarchical structures. The apparent contact angle of porous PLLA materials was 121°, significantly improved in contrast with 67° of the solvent-casting bulk PLLA film. Moreover, the PLLA materials with high porosity up to 48.4% were obtained from 5 wt% PLLA chloroform solution at the precipitating temperature of 30 °C. Predictably, due to the favorable porosity and the excellent surface hydrophobicity, the porous PLLA materials have great potential in the wild application of oil-water separation.

Monte Carlo simulations are performed to predict the interfacial tension (IFT) for water/ n -dodecane, water/toluene, and water/(50 wt% n -dodecane + 50 wt% toluene) mixtures at a pressure of 1.83 MPa and temperatures ranging from 383.15 to 443.15 K. Simulations for the binary mixtures are performed in the N 1 N 2 p N A T ensemble and those for the ternary mixtures are performed in the N 1 μ 2 μ 3 p N A T ensemble. In order to control the composition of the organic phase for ternary mixture simulations, separate reservoirs for toluene and n -dodecane molecules are utilized, and the minimum and maximum numbers of these molecules in the interfacial box are monitored. Identity switch moves are applied to facilitate the sampling of the spatial distributions of the organic molecules. Calculations of the IFT for water/ n -decane and water/benzene mixtures are used to benchmark the force fields and to develop mixing rules. The combination of the TraPPE–UA force field and the TIP4P/2005 water model with Lorentz-Berthelot combining rules yields fairly accurate predictions at moderate temperatures for water/ n -decane, but appears to slightly overestimate the IFT at elevated temperatures. For the water/benzene mixtures, the TraPPE–EH//TIP4P/2005 combination significantly overestimates the IFT over the entire temperature range. Subsequent modifications of the energetic Lennard-Jones cross-interaction parameters yield good agreement between experimental and simulated IFT data of water/ n -decane and water/benzene. Using a preliminary set of modified cross-interaction parameters for the TraPPE–UA/EH//TIP4P/2005 combination, our predictions for the Industrial Fluid Properties Simulation Challenge yield satisfactory agreement with the benchmark data (mean signed errors of − 2.2 , − 5.1 , and − 0.1 dyn/cm for water/ n -dodecane, water/toluene, and water/(50 wt% n -dodecane + 50 wt% toluene), respectively). A new set of modified cross-interaction parameters developed later based on longer simulation trajectories and a larger set of experimental data is found to reduce the mean signed errors to − 0.1 , − 0.6 , and + 2.5 dyn/cm, respectively, for these three systems. Although a significant enrichment of toluene molecules at the interface is found for the ternary mixture, this enrichment is not sufficient to reproduce the experimental IFT data.

Monte Carlo simulations in the Gibbs ensemble were carried out to determine the mutual solubilities for water/n-alkane mixtures over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, and alkane chain length...

International audience; Conversion-type batteries with electrode materials partially dissolved in a liquid electrolyte exhibit high specific capacity and excellent redox kinetics, but currently poor stability due to the shuttle effect. Using a solid-electrolyte separator to block the mass exchange between the cathode and the anode can eliminate the shuttle effect. A stable interface between the solid-electrolyte separator and the liquid electrolyte is essential for the battery performance. Here, we demonstrate that a stable interface with low interfacial resistance and limited side reactions can be formed between the sulfide solid-electrolyte β-Li(3)PS(4) and the widely used ether-based liquid electrolytes, under both reduction and oxidation conditions, due to the rapid formation of an effective protective layer of ether-solvated Li(3)PS(4) at the sulfide/liquid electrolyte interface. This discovery has inspired the design of a β-Li(3)PS(4)-coated solid-electrolyte Li(7)P(3)S(11) separator with a simultaneously high ion-conduction ability and good interfacial stability with the liquid electrolyte, so that hybrid lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries with this composite separator conserve a high discharge capacity of 1047 mA h g(-1) and a high second discharge plateau of 2.06 V after 150 cycles.

Background Enzymatic quantification of creatinine has become an essential method for clinical evaluation of renal function. Although creatinase (CR) is frequently used for this purpose, its poor thermostability severely limits industrial applications. Herein, we report a novel creatinase from Alcaligenes faecalis (afCR) with higher catalytic activity and lower KM value, than currently used creatinases. Furthermore, we developed a non-biased phylogenetic consensus method to improve the thermostability of afCR. Results We applied a non-biased phylogenetic consensus method to identify 59 candidate consensus residues from 24 creatinase family homologs for screening afCR mutants with improved thermostability. Twenty-one amino acids of afCR were selected to mutagenesis and 11 of them exhibited improved thermostability compared to the parent enzyme (afCR-M0). Combination of single-site mutations in sequential screens resulted in a quadruple mutant D17V/T199S/L6P/T251C (M4-2) which showed ~ 1700-fold enhanced half-life at 57 °C and a 4.2 °C higher T5015 than that of afCR-M0. The mutant retained catalytic activity equivalent to afCR-M0, and thus showed strong promise for application in creatinine detection. Structural homology modeling revealed a wide range of potential molecular interactions associated with individual mutations that contributed to improving afCR thermostability. Conclusions Results of this study clearly demonstrated that the non-biased-phylogenetic consensus design for improvement of thermostability in afCR is effective and promising in improving the thermostability of more enzymes.

Thermo-expandable microcapsules (TEMs) with polyurethane as the shell and n-hexane as the blowing agent were synthesized by interfacial reaction between isocyanate-terminated polyurethane prepolymer aqueous dispersion and polyamine chain extender. The synthetic process for the thermo-expandable PU-shelled microcapsules was established. The factors which affected the efficiency for blowing agent encapsulation were investigated by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), laser particle size analyzer and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The foaming performances of the microcapsules were characterized by polarizing optical microscope with hot platform (POM) and thermo-mechanical analyzer (TMA). The results showed that PU-shelled thermo-expandable microcapsules were successfully synthesized and had good foaming performance. The NCO/OH ratio was found to have a significant effect on the encapsulation of n-hexane and the appropriate ratio was found to be 3:1. Diethylenetriamine (DETA), which is a polyamine chain extender, was found to be a more suitable chain-extender than other polyamine chain extenders in encapsulation the hexane. PU-shelled thermo-expandable microcapsules containing 25.8% blowing agent was fabricated. The onset expand temperature of TEMs was found to be 206 °C, and the maximum foaming temperature was at 235 °C, according to thermo-mechanical analysis. The volume expansion ratio of TEMs reached 27 times according to the measurement by polarizing optical microscope. The PU shelled TEMs showed good foaming performance in vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer matrix.

International audience; Polysulfide shuttling and lithium dendrites are two major issues which hinder the development of high-performance Li–S batteries. An ideal solution is to employ hybrid electrolyte consisting of sulfide solid electrolyte (SSE) and liquid electrolyte (LE), where SSE functions as a barrier for suppressing polysulfide shuttling and lithium dendrite growth while LE works as fast Li+ transport media. In this work, Li10SnP2S12 membranes, with a ceramic-like dense structure, provide a rigid barrier for preventing polysulfide shuttling and lithium dendrite growth. Meanwhile, its high ionic conductivity of 3.33 × 10−3 S/cm (25 °C), accompanied with good wetting and Li+ transport abilities of LE, renders the hybrid electrolyte system an excellent Li+ dynamic property. Consequently, the Li–S batteries fabricated with this SSE-based hybrid electrolyte system can operate at an extremely high charge/discharge rate. At a rate of 5C (7.10 mA/cm2), the batteries show an initial discharge capacity of 659.4 mAh/g, maintain at 471.4 mAh/g and 413.3 mAh/g after 50 and 100 cycles，showing a capacity retention of 71.53% and 62.67%, respectively. It is also proposed that a competitive mechanism exists between the electrochemical reaction and side reaction during cycling, where the electrochemical reaction dominates at high rates.

Focused on the design and construction of controllable surface microtopographyand interconnected pore morphologyof porous poly (L-lactic acid) membrane. Asimple solvent evaporation-induced precipitation methodis proposed to regulate microstructures by one-step method without any additive. Controllable microstructures (fibrous networks, interconnected pores, and crystallized PLLA protrusions) and interconnected pore morphology were facilely achieved by adjusting the PLLA concentration and/or precipitation temperature. In view of the shortcomings of previous foam preparation, the contact area between solvent and non-solvent was broadenedto realize the improvement of porosity and the construction of surface micro-nano structure. The results show that the crystallinity of prepared PLLA membranes is kept in a high range between 61.8% and 75.8% and the maximum watercontact angle (WCA) is largely increased to 142.3°. Surprisingly, surface wettability of PLLA membranes possess the wonderful mechanical damage resistance, and the porosity and oil-absorption capacity are increased to 90.8% and 24.1 g/grespectively. Predictably, the porous PLLA membrane has great application potential as a biodegradable oil-water separation material.

International audience; Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries using hybrid electrolytes, which are composed of solid-electrolyte separator and liquid-electrolyte wetting agent, can effectively eliminate the polysulfide shuttling issue. The cycling performance of these hybrid batteries is mainly limited by the interfacial stability between the solid and liquid electrolytes. This work detailly discusses the influence of the composition on the stability of a highly ionic conductive sulfide solid electrolyte, lithium thiophosphate xLi2S·(100–x)P2S5 (70 ≤ x ≤ 75, SSEs), in hybrid Li-S batteries. It reveals that the solid electrolyte with low Li2S content favors the formation of a SEI layer containing Li3PS4 and therefore improves the interfacial stability with Li anode, while the one with high Li2S content behaves more stable with the cathode. Using 75Li2S·25P2S5 as the separator, a hybrid battery runs more than 400 cycles with a low capacity fading rate of 0.14%/cycle. This is benefited from the elimination of polysulfide shutting and especially the excellent compatibility of the sulfide solid electrolyte with both anode and cathode.

The Poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) films with polytropic surface morphology were fabricated by a modified solvent evaporation-induced precipitation method. In this novel method, the diffusion rate between solvent and non-solvent is mainly driven by the volatilization of the solvent and can be effectively controlled by covering the solvent with a non-solvent layer. In addition, inspired by the general Breath-Figure self-assembly, the controllable humidity is introduced to the system to adjust the solubility parameters of non-solvents, which avoids the instantaneous phase separation induced by direct coagulation of water droplets. The surface morphology realizes the transformation from inter-connected pores to flower-like structures by controlling polymer solution concentration and humidity. The surface water contact angle can reach to 152.1° with the combination of micro-scale flowers and nano-scale lamellar structures. Furthermore, the porosity of the prepared PLLA films can increase up to 87.5%, which greatly exceeds the 60% porosity of PLLA foam prepared by the non-solvent induced phase separation. Thus, the resultant film exhibits an excellent oil-absorption capacity even up to 17.88 g/g, which makes it has great application potential in the field of oil-water separation.

Along with the integration and miniaturization of modern electronics, electromagnetic radiation and heat accumulation have become the increasingly serious problem. However, it is still greatly challenging to achieve high electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE) and thermal conductivity (TC) simultaneously in polymeric composite films. Herein, flexible and tough nanofibrillated cellulose/Fe3O4c the polymeric NFC/Fe3O4 played the role as supporting substrate and synergistically enhanced the EMI shielding performance. Thus, alternating multilayered NFC/Fe3O4&CNT/PEO films exhibited the high electrical conductivity of 3.9 × 103 S/m, excellent EMI SE of 30.3 dB, and thermal conductivity of 9.53 W m−1 K−1. In addition, NFC/Fe3O4&CNT/PEO films showed wonderful mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 36.03 MPa, a toughness of 2.98 MJ/m3, and an elongation at break of 19.1%, due to strong hydrogen bonding between NFC and PEO and hierarchical “zigzag” cracks. Interestingly, alternating multilayered structures could highly improve the toughness and ductility of composite films, in contrast to pure NFC. In the actual EMI shielding application measurement, NFC/Fe3O4&CNT/PEO films were proved to effectively block the electromagnetic wave transmission. This effort opens a creative avenue for designing and constructing flexible and tough composite films with both excellent EMI shielding performance and fascinating heat removal ability.

In this paper, highly electrically conductive polymeric composites were obtained by low-temperature expandable graphite (LTEG) filling poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) in the presence of ascorbic acid via an in situ exfoliation and subsequent reduction process during the melt blending. The electrical conductivity of the PLLA/reduced and expanded graphite (R-EG) composites was determined by a four-point probe resistivity determiner and compared with that of the PLLA/expanded graphite (EG) composites. The percolation threshold of PLLA/R-EG blends decreased from 11.2 wt% to 7.1 wt%, which illustrated the superiority of R-EG to the electrically conducting ability of PLLA composites. At the graphite concentration near the percolation threshold, the electrical conductivity of PLLA/R-EG composites was much higher than that of PLLA/EG composites. The effective in situ expansion and reduction of LTEG were crucial to the overall electrical conductivity of the blends, which was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Dynamic rheology analysis confirmed that the connected networks that were the major cause of the rapid increase in electrical conductivity were much more easily formed for PLLA/R-EG blends than those of PLLA/EG blends. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was applied to determine the decomposition and thermal stability of the PLLA/R-EG composites.

Halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs), primarily regarded as optoelectronic materials for LED and photovoltaic devices, have not been applied for photochemical conversion (e.g., water splitting or CO2 reduction) applications because of their insufficient stability in the presence of moisture or polar solvents. Herein, we report the use of CsPbBr3 QDs as novel photocatalysts to convert CO2 into solar fuels in nonaqueous media. Under AM 1.5G simulated illumination, the CsPbBr3 QDs steadily generated and injected electrons into CO2, catalyzing CO2 reduction at a rate of 23.7 μmol/g h with a selectivity over 99.3%. Additionally, through the construction of a CsPbBr3 QD/graphene oxide (CsPbBr3 QD/GO) composite, the rate of electron consumption increased 25.5% because of improved electron extraction and transport. This study is anticipated to provide new opportunities to utilize halide perovskite QD materials in photocatalytic applications.

Organometal trihalide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) based on multiple-site alloyed perovskite currently attract a surge of research interests owing to their extreme high solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency (PCE). Additionally, perovskite single crystals, proven to possess lower defect density, are highly anticipated to realize the full potential of perovskite materials. Herein, we for the first time proposes a facile and operable cooling-induced crystallization method to fabricate dual-site alloyed FA x MA 1−x Pb(I x Br 1−x ) 3 single microcrystals with tunable bandgaps, which will later be employed as encouraging precursors to form high quality perovskite films with extended grain sizes and less grain boundaries. The corresponding solar cells showcase advanced charge transport and retarded recombination, leading to satisfying photovoltaic performance and heartening device stability (a champion PCE of 18.3% and a satisfying maintenance of ~83% initial PCE after 2000 h aging without encapsulation), indicating a promising protocol of fabricating miscellaneous single microcrystal perovskite precursors for highly efficient PSCs.

ABX3-type organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskite materials have been recognized as promising candidates for optoelectronic applications. However, poor stability of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite hinders their forward long-term utilization and hence an effective strategy is needed to replace the organic part with an inorganic cation. Herein, all inorganic CsPbI3 nanowires with a diameter of 50–100 nm are synthesized on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass via a simple solution-dipping process, which are further transformed into CsPbBr3 nanowires through a solution-phase halide exchange method. A phase change from non-perovskite to perovskite structure is observed during the ion substitution process of I− by Br−, which is elaborated by X-ray diffraction, absorption and photoluminescence spectra. We for the first time apply the as-formed CsPbI3 and CsPbBr3 nanowires into perovskite solar cells, yielding power conversion efficiency of 0.11% and 1.21%, respectively. The inorganic CsPbBr3 nanowire solar cell shows impressive stability which still remains 99% of the initial power conversion efficiency even after 5500 h aging.

A good understanding of the detailed molecular movements of the poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) cold-crystallization is significant for academic investigation and commercial application. In this article, the cold-crystallization process of PLLA was successfully investigated via temperature-dependent FTIR spectroscopy combined with the perturbation correlation moving-window two-dimensional (PCMW2D) spectroscopy and generalized two-dimensional correlation (2D) spectroscopy. PCMW2D reveals that the cold-crystallization of PLLA undergoes two processes: Process I (60.8–73.7 °C) and Process II (91.1–104.0 °C), which is consistent with the results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurement. The method of estimating the regularization enthalpy of function groups (CH3, CO, and CCO–O) during both Process I and Process II is established based on van't Hoff plots. The results show that the enthalpy of the regularization of chain segments is decreased with the increasing mobility. The sequential order of the groups' movement in both Process I and Process II is successfully investigated by the generalized 2D correlation analysis, which has great significance for understanding the detailed microdynamics mechanism of the PLLA cold-crystallization. Process I is the relaxation process, which undergoes 2 steps and Process II is the primary cold-crystallization process, which has 5 steps.

Cesium lead iodide perovskite (CsPbI3) has been proposed as an efficient alternative to modify the instability of methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) under thermal and humidity stress. However, three-dimensional (3D) cesium lead iodide forms an undesirable non-perovskite structure with a wide bandgap at ambient atmosphere. Herein, dimension engineering is employed by introducing a bulky ammonium cation to form stable 2D cesium lead iodide perovskite BA2CsPb2I7 (BA = CH3(CH2)3NH3), which not only exhibits prominent optoelectronic properties, but also possesses superior structural and compositional stability to 3D CsPbI3 and MAPbI3 under the pressure of heat and humidity. The current 2D BA2CsPb2I7 shows excellent stability after exposure to 30% relative humidity for 30 days or upon heating at 85 °C for 3 days. In addition, the corresponding BA2CsPb2I7 based planar perovskite solar cells retain 92% of the initial power conversion efficiency (PCE) after aging for over 30 days without any encapsulation, demonstrating the up-scalability of 2D perovskite compounds as stable and efficient light-absorbing materials for perovskite solar cells and other optoelectronic applications.

Nowadays, obtaining a thin and large-area perovskite single-crystal (SC) is still challenging. Herein, we report a novel strategy to prepare a laminar MAPbBr3 SC with a controllable thickness of 16 μm and a size of 6 × 8 mm. Additionally, the SC solar cell achieves an intriguing efficiency of 7.11% with an impressive stability, maintaining 93% initial PCE after aging for 1000 h.

Halide perovskite single crystal of cubic HC(NH2)2PbI3 (FAPbI3) having excellent optoelectronic properties, such as narrow bandgap, large absorption coefficient and superior thermal stability has caught a surge of attention as a promising material for production of high-performance optoelectronic devices. However, at room temperature, the self-transformation of cubic FAPbI3 perovskite phase to non-perovskite phase leaves a critical roadblock to its practical viability. Herein, a simple alloying strategy by mixing methylammonium with formamidinium is developed to stabilize the FAPbI3 perovskite phase, hence achieving a highly stable mixed cation MA0.45FA0.55PbI3 perovskite single crystal over a span of 14 months. The MA0.45FA0.55PbI3 single crystal exhibits exceptional optoelectronic properties like high carrier mobility of 271 ± 60 cm2 s−1 V−1 and long diffusion length up to 254 μm, which are twice the values for sole MAPbI3 or FAPbI3 crystals. In addition, the photodetector based on MA0.45FA0.55PbI3 single crystal exhibits low detection limit of about 1 nW cm−2, high ON–OFF ratio of ∼1000, short response time of less than 200 μs, and impressive stability under aging in dark for 4 months or continuous photo-switching test for 1000 s.

Designing and exploring efficient and stable non-noble bifunctional catalysts by nanostructure modification and chemical composition tuning for water splitting is of critical importance for sustainable resources. Herein, pure phase nickel molybdenum phosphide (NiMoP2) nanowires on carbon cloth are successfully synthesized through a simple and highly reproducible in situ P/O exchange process. Such a NiMoP2 nanowire catalyst requires low overpotentials of 199 and 330 mV to obtain a high current density of 100 mA cm−2 towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively, and is among the most active HER and OER electrocatalysts yet reported. The bifunctional NiMoP2 is used as both anode and cathode catalysts in a two-electrode water electrolysis configuration, which delivers a current density of 10 mA cm−2 under a potential of 1.67 V. Furthermore, the overall water-splitting of the bifunctional NiMoP2 nanowire catalyst is further driven by a dry battery with a nominal voltage of 1.5 V which exhibits excellent performance and durability in a strong alkaline electrolyte.

Cupric oxide (CuO), a narrow-bandgap semiconductor, has a band alignment that makes it an ideal photocathode for the renewable production of solar fuels. However, the photoelectrochemical performance of CuO is limited by its poor conductivity and short electron diffusion lengths. Herein, a three-dimensional (3D) architecture consisting of CuO nanosheets supported onto transparent conducting macroporous antimony-doped tin oxide (mpATO@CuONSs) is designed as an excellent photocathode for promoting the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Owing to the 3D structure affording superior light-harvesting characteristics, large contact areas with the electrolyte, and highly conductive pathways for separation and transport of charge carriers, the mpATO@CuONSs photocathode produces an impressively high photocurrent density of −4.6 mA cm−2 at 0 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), which is much higher than that of the CuONSs array onto planar FTO glass (−1.9 mA cm−2).

International audience; Delicate control of the precipitate/supernatant ratio in the precursor suspension during liquid-phase synthesis of Li7P3S11 provides information on how the morphology of the impurities affect the ionic conductivity. In this work, the influence of the precipitate/supernatant ratio on the phase structure, the morphology and the ionic conductivity of Li7P3S11 prepared in acetonitrile is studied. It is revealed that in the supernatant-excess region, the excess amorphous "Li2S·P2S5" finally turns into a poorly ionic conductive phase Li4P2S6 which wraps Li7P3S11 particles, increasing the interfacial resistance. In the precipitate-excess region, a thio-LISICON III phase turned from the excess precipitate tends to stay within Li7P3S11 particles, and therefore its negative influence on the total ionic conductivity is not evident. Consequently, a slight composition shift into the precipitate-excess region benefits the ionic conductivity of the resultant solid electrolyte.

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Rosa chinensis cv. ‘JinBian’, a cultivar of Rosa chinensis Jacq., is one of major raw material of rose tea and possesses sufficient plant resources in China. However, the studies on the chemical constituents and cosmetic activities of R. chinensis cv. ‘JinBian’ are almost blank. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the anti-aging, skin-whitening, and antibacterial potentials of extracts and chemical constituents of the flower by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, elastase inhibition, anti-tyrosinase, and antibacterial assays. Bioassay results suggested both 95 % and 65 % ethanol extracts possessed significant antioxidant, elastase inhibition, and anti-tyrosinase activities. The combined active extract was studied with bioassay-guided fractionation to give a new compound, kaempferol 3-O-α- l -rhamnopyranosyl (1→6)-(2”,3”-O-digalloyl)-β- d -glucopyranoside (1) and fourteen known compounds (2–15). All compounds were firstly isolated from this species and subjected to the above mentioned bioassays. Ten compounds exhibited antioxidant activities with DPPH radical scavenging rate from 63.40 %–94.04 % under the concentration of 100 μg/mL. The antioxidant activities of 1, 2-phenylethyl 1-O-β- d -(6'-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside (12), vomifoliol (14), and 4, 4'-dimethoxy-3'-hydroxy-7, 9': 7', 9-diepoxylignan-3-O-β- d -glucopyranoside (15) were firstly found with DPPH radical scavenging rate of 83.24 %, 91.10 %, 63.40 %, and 77.75 %, respectively. The moderate elastase inhibitory activities of 12, ethyl gallate (13), and 15 were firstly found with the inhibitory rate of 43.69 %, 43.25 %, and 35.34 % at the concentration of 100 μg/mL. Multiflorin B (3), 12, and 13 showed strong tyrosinase inhibitory activities with the inhibition rate at 43.83 %–55.80 %, comparing with the positive control, α-arbutin (22.15 %). In addition, 1 showed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus with the MIC50 of 8.51 ± 0.26 μg/mL. Compounds 2–4 and 12–14 showed moderate antibacterial activities against S. aureus. Compounds 6 and 13 also exhibited moderate inhibitory effects against Klebsiella pneumoniae. Above results manifested that R. chinensis cv. ‘JinBian’ possessed potential application values in the development of natural anti-aging, skin-whitening and antibacterial products.

Balanced electrical conductivity and mechanical properties are always of great significance for the practical applications of conductive polymer composites (CPCs), especially for the inherent brittle poly (lactic acid) (PLA)-based CPCs. Herein, the phase control methodology (i.e. carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and intense extensional flow field synergistically induced PLA crystallization) was proposed to achieve the in situ electrically conductive nanohybrid shish that is composed of plenty of CNTs coated by PLA crystalline phase. In addition, the conductive networks were easily constructed by the combined effect of 1 D wire-like conductive nanohybrid shish and 2 D patch board-like graphene (GE) for highly conductive PLA/CNT/GE nanocomposites. Compared with common pure PLA (4.2 × 10−12 S/cm), the electrical conductivity of PLA/CNT5/GE0.1 (1.32 S/cm) was sharply increased by 12 orders of magnitude. Meanwhile, due to the strong reinforcing effects of nanohybrid shish, PLA/CNT5/GE0.1 exhibited unexpectedly simultaneous enhancement in ductility, strength, and stiffness, outperforming common pure PLA with increase of 1952%, 40.6%, and 24.1%, respectively. Of particular interest was the conductive nanohybrid shish fabricated with industrial feasibility, displaying the competitive advantages in achieving high-conductivity and high-performance PLA, even for other semicrystalline polymers. The unprecedented combination of high electrical conductivity, ductility, strength, and stiffness established in PLA-based nanocomposites only by tailoring the crystalline microstructures is in great potential need for electromagnetic shielding, electronic devices, and antistatic packaging applications.

Focus on the design and execution of super-hydrophobic strategies, the phase control methodology, that is, solvent-volatilization and crystallization induced phase separation at low temperature (−15 °C), is proposed to construct three dimension (3D) poly(lactic-acid) (PLA) porous structures, denser stereo-complexed crystals (SCs) protrusions and bi-continuous SCs fibrillary networks in poly(L-lactic acid)/poly(D-lactic acid) (PLLA/PDLA) blends for the first time. We show that generating hierarchical structures are keys to enable the super-hydrophobicity, instead of traditionally adding fillers. By comparing the interfacial configurations of PLA pores with different PDLA content, it is shown that numerous SCs protrusions on the skeleton of 3D pores with 30% PDLA, especially for the bi-continuous SCs fibrillary networks with 50% PDLA, very different from the porous morphology of pure PLLA. The controllable PLA chains sharply facilitate the formation of SCs protrusions by the hydrogen bonding, which give rise to the limited time to growth ordered and large-sized lamellae. Of particular interests are our first establishments of developing uniform SCs protrusions on the internal 3D porous skeleton and multi-scale 3D fibrillary network structure for stereo-complex PLA, which afford the inner hydrophobic coincidence with the surface even after processed one-hour (1 h) by ultrasound in water. Therefore, we hypothesize that the key factor influencing super-hydrophobicity of the PLLA/PDLA films are 3D pores and bi-continuous SCs fibrillary networks combined with the roughly crystalline surface structure resembling rugged protrusions, leading to the water contact angle (CA) up to 155°. Moreover, the icing-resistance and thermal degradation behavior are highly obvious. This work firstly pave the way to polymer-derived networks with combination of self-constructed crystallization protrusions and bi-continuous 3D fibrillary network structure by hydrogen bonding for elegant implementation of super-hydrophobic characteristics other than the traditional addition of fillers.

A series of microporous open-cell poly(vinyl formal) (PVF) foams were obtained by cross-linking poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with different contents of formaldehyde during the first acetalization process. In this reaction, water acted not only as the solvent of PVA but also as the pore-forming agent, which made this method more concise and environment-friendly. However, the PVF foam walls were not strong enough to maintain the initial pore shapes and sizes. The second acetalization process was used to increase the acetalization degree to enhance the strength of the foam walls. The poly(vinyl formal) foams obtained by the two-step acetalization method (TPVF) were able to keep the pretty microporous structures during the drying process. The materials with highly microporous structures exhibited a good ability to absorb normally incident sound. Therefore, the microporous open-cell TPVF foams have great potential in the application of sound absorption materials.

Two new electron-rich molecules based on 3,4-phenylenedioxythiophene (PheDOT) were synthesized and successfully adopted as hole-transporting materials (HTMs) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). X-ray diffraction, absorption spectra, photoluminescence spectra, electrochemical properties, thermal stabilities, hole mobilities, conductivities, and photovoltaic parameters of PSCs based on these two HTMs were compared with each other. By introducing methoxy substituents into the main skeleton, the energy levels of PheDOT-core HTM were tuned to match with the perovskite, and its hole mobility was also improved (1.33×10(-4) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) , being higher than that of spiro-OMeTAD, 2.34×10(-5) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)). The PSC based on MeO-PheDOT as HTM exhibits a short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 18.31 mA cm(-2) , an open-circuit potential (Voc ) of 0.914 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 0.636, yielding an encouraging power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.64 % under AM 1.5G illumination. These results give some insight into how the molecular structures of HTMs affect their performances and pave the way for developing high-efficiency and low-cost HTMs for PSCs.

In situ fabrication of an ordered macroporous perovskite semitransparent film on a FTO glass was successfully achieved via sacrificial polystyrene (PS) microsphere templates. The average visible transmittance of active layer from 20% to 45% can be tuned by simply changing the PS diameters and precursor concentrations. The ordered macroporous perovskite films show enhanced crystallinity and reduced recombination defects, superior to the island perovskite film. Transient photovoltage, transient photocurrent and electrochemical impedance spectra measurements proved the advanced charge transport and reduced recombination by importing macroporous structures. Herein, the optimized 400 nm MP CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite film with a high AL AVT of 36.5% achieved an impressive PCE of 11.7% compared to the island-like perovskite film (champion PCE = 5.6%), presenting a great potential for building integrated photovoltaic applications.

Technetium is an important fission product in the reprocessing process of spent fuels, and its determination is of great significance in nuclear chemistry and technology. However, nearly all related methods need a pretreatment step before measurement, the study proposed herein focused on the quantification of TcO4− in aqueous solutions simply using Raman spectroscopy with NO3− and water as internal standards without a sample preparation step. The relative intensity of TcO4− to NO3− (1047 cm−1) and OH (1645 cm−1) showed good linearity to the concentration of TcO4−. The molar relative intensity was calculated for determination, and the predictions of these samples using both estimating methods were acceptable. The work also studied the behavior of TcO4− in a complex matrix, the results show that it is possible to use Raman spectroscopy for TcO4− quantitative determination in aqueous solution. The LOD and LOQ obtained is 0.42 mmol L−1 and 1.39 mmol L−1, respectively.

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a planar perovskite solar cell (PSC) is closely associated with the conduction band energy, conductivity and coverage of the compact layer. However, as the most widely used compact layer material, TiO2 has unfavorable electrical properties such as low electron mobility and conductivity; as a result, modifications such as elemental doping are of paramount importance. In this study, Nb-doped TiO2 with improved carrier density and conductivity was prepared via a facile one-pot solution process and applied successfully as a high-quality compact layer for planar PSCs. A positive shift in the flat-band potential (Vfb) and increased conductivity after Nb doping efficiently facilitated photogenerated electron injection and charge extraction from the perovskite film to the 2% Nb-doped TiO2 compact layer, contributing to impressive advances in photovoltaic performance compared with pristine TiO2. Ultimately, a PSC assembled using optimized 2% Nb-doped TiO2 and CH3NH3PbI3 yielded a power conversion efficiency of up to 16.3%.

To enhance drug cellular uptake, a biodegradable terpolymer is synthesized using taurine, N,N-Bis (acryloyl) cystamine, and dodecylamine as raw materials by Michael addition terpolymerization. The terpolymer is transformed to zwitterionic nanoparticles (NPs) through self-assembly. The surface charge of the NPs is convertible from negative at pH 7.4 to positive at pH 6.5, which endows the NPs' excellent nonfouling feature in bloodstream and effective uptake in tumor cells. The NPs display varied morphologies from solid micelles to polymersomes and nanorods depending on molar ratios of the structural units involved. The NPs can be biodegraded in l-glutathione (GSH) solution due to the split of disulfide bonds in main chains of the terpolymers. The NPs demonstrate good pH/reducing responsiveness in drug delivery and can be potentially used as anticancer drug vehicles for enhancement of cellular uptake of anticancer drug.

Focus on the potential application in oil-water separation for porous and biodegradable Poly(L-latic acid) (PLLA) amenable to economically viable water treatment, we designate the controllable pores, fibrillary network and protrusion structure by crystallization induced phase separation in poly(L-latic acid)/Zinc oxid (PLLA/ZnO) materials, ready for their potential application in oil-water separation. It’s worth noting that the interface effect between PLLA and ZnO is strengthened by silane coupling agent KH570. The crystallinity of the PLLA/ZnO@KH570 materials are correspondingly increased from 36.9% to 41.1% as the slightly increasing content of ZnO@KH570 from 1% to 7%, indicating that ZnO@KH570 nanoparticles can act as heterogeneous nucleating agent to promote crystallization of PLLA, which facilitate the conversion of PLLA solution from liquid-liquid phase separation mechanism to solid-liquid phase separation mechanism, resulting in the formation of microstructures. Very interestingly, the porosity of PLLA/ZnO@KH570 composite is highest up to 94.1% compared to its value of 87.8% for pure PLLA. Due to the multiple structures, the water contact angle of composite is significantly improved to 146°, allowing the oil/water mixture solution to be effectively separated. In brief, we have successfully manufactured hydrophobic PLLA/ZnO@KH570 composite with the multi-scale microstructure which may be potentially applied in oil-water separation.

Many researchers have attempted to address the problem of frequency reduction or overheating damage caused by inadequate thermal conductivity of substrates. Developing advanced, green, and practical thermal interface materials (TIMs) is one of the most promising solutions to date. Herein, a facile method is proposed to achieve fascinating thermal conductivity of TIMs via constructing two-dimension (2D) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) decorated with zero-dimension (0D) silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in hybrid nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) film. The surface morphology and chemistry of Ag-rGO-functionalized NFC (Ag-rGO/NFC) are significantly altered by adding a small amount of Ag-rGO nanosheets (9.6 wt%), resulting in remarkable improvement in the thermal conductivity. The in-plane thermal conductivity of Ag-rGO/NFC (27.55 W m−1 K−1) showed a massive enhancement of over 1095% compared to pure NFC (2.3 W m−1 K−1), accompanied by 573% increase in through-plane conductivity. These enhancements could be attributed to the robust heterostructural Ag-rGO networks and dense layer-by-layer (LBL) structures. It is likely that these controllable structures come into being due to the intense static adsorption between graphene oxide (GO) and Ag+ as well as the hydrogen bonding interaction between GO and NFC. It is worth noting that exceptionally fast heat transport is achieved for Ag-rGO/NFC in practical application, with values as high as 0.18 °C/s, in sharp contrast to 0.16 °C/s for pure NFC films in the time range of 80–220 s. This could be due to the excellent thermal conduction networks built by Ag-bridged rGO nanosheets. This work provides valuable insights into the fabrication of highly thermal conductive composites in the promising field of electronic equipment, integrating intelligent functionality and environmental compatibility.

Zingiber cassumunar Roxb. is a medically important plant with extensive traditional medicinal functions and bioactivities. It is also used in some skin-care balm by local people. Nevertheless, the research on the active components of the plant related to skin-care is not enough, which mainly involved some antioxidant and anti-inflammatory active compounds. This study investigated the extracts and components from rhizome of Z. cassumunar for their 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, HDFa collagen secretion promotion, tyrosinase inhibition, and NO generation inhibition activities for the purpose of identifying ingredients with potential anti-aging, skin-whitening, and anti-inflammation for use in cosmetics. Ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract of the plant showed significant NO generation inhibition, DPPH radical scavenging, tyrosinase inhibitory activities, and weak promoting collagen secretion activity while petroleum ether (PE) extract showed obvious NO generation inhibition activity. Six active compounds, (E)-3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-propenal (1), cis-3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-4-[(E)-2,4,5-trimehoxystyryl]cyclohex-1-ene (2), 1-feruloyloxy cinnamic acid (3), (1E,4E,6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,4,6-heptatrien-3-one (4), bisdemethoxycurcumin (5), and curcumin (6), were isolated from PE and EtOAc extracts by bioassay-guided fractionation. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 showed significant NO generation inhibition activity with IC50 of 22.67 ± 2.36, 7.00 ± 0.22, 15.40 ± 0.63, 5.47 ± 0.09, and 7.16 ± 0.05 μM, respectively. 3 also showed potent DPPH radical scavenging activity with IC50 of 22.96 ± 0.87 μg/mL. 4 was a good tyrosinase inhibitor with the inhibitory rate of 42.56 ± 1.02% under the concentration of 100 μg/mL. 2 and 4 showed significant HDFa collagen secretion promoting activity with EC50 of 13.91 ± 1.56 and 8.50 ± 1.31 μg/mL, respectively. This is the first report on components from Z. cassumunar for their HDFa collagen secretion promotion and tyrosinase inhibition activities. These results suggest that medicinal plant Z. cassumunar possesses potential application value in the development of natural cosmeceutical products for anti-aging, skin-whitening, and anti-inflammation activity.

Glucose oxidase (GOx) has seen large-scale technological applications, and the determinations of its activity that is directly related to the enzymatic functions are extremely important. However, conventional methods to analyze the enzymatic activity involving high oxygen dependency and indirect redox reactions are usually tedious and restricted in complicated environments. For analyzing enzymatic activity by direct detection of the electron signals from the active centers, mediators are often used for facilitating the electron transfer. Differing from common methods of preparing electron mediators-contained GOx composites, a strategy aiming at remolding of the enzyme itself has been proposed in this work. Cofactor-like molecule 2'-diallyamino-ethyl flavin (DAA-flavin) derived from riboflavin is synthesized and incorporated as cross-linker into the polyacrylamide (PAAm) network around GOx surface by in situ polymerization to obtain enzyme nanocapsules termed as GOx@Fla-c-PAAm. The peripheral polymer shell confines the orientation of GOx and prevents it from denaturing, whereas incorporated DAA-flavin can replace the oxygen as an alternative electron acceptor to interact with the active centers of GOx in the presence of the substrate, thus giving the nanocapsules oxygen-independent characteristics. The introduced unlimited cofactor-like molecules endow the nanocapsules redox-related fluorescence, and the intensity variation is closely correlated with the enzymatic activity. There is a high goodness of fitting ( R

Multi-layer graphene oxide (MGO) was co-modified with bis-(P,P-bis-ethylhexyldiphosphato)-ethanediolato titanate triethanolamino chelate solution (NDZ-311w) and bis-(γ-triethoxysilylpropyl)-tetrasulfide (Si-69). Then the co-modified MGO was incorporated into natural rubber (NR) by conventional two-roll mill mixing to prepare MGO/NR composites. The large macromolecule of NDZ-311w is able to efficiently intercalate the layers and increase the interlamellar space of MGO, subsequently resulting in the exfoliation of MGO into thinner sheets with better dispersity. Moreover, the oxygen-containing polar groups of MGO can be largely consumed by Si-69, which enhances the interfacial interaction between MGO and the NR matrix and improves the mechanical properties of the MGO/NR composites. Compared to pure natural rubber, the tensile strength, the stress at 300% strain, and tear resistance of co-modified MGO/NR composites are increased by 26%, 98% and 15%, respectively.

In this article, an attempt for efficient screening of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with excellent operability on microfluidic chips was reported. A Parsortix™-like cell separation chip was manufactured in our lab. This chip allowed lateral flow of fluid which increased the flow rate of blood. And, an air valve controlled injection pump was manufactured which allowed eight chips working simultaneously. This greatly facilitated the blood treatment process and saved time. As for the mechanism of screening circulating tumor cells, selective size amplification was utilized. By size amplification of cancer cells, both the hardness and the size of CTCs increased which differentiated them from blood cells. And the modification procedure of beads used for size amplification of cancer cells was optimized. Finally, by integrating the commercialized Parsortix™-like cell separation chip and selective size amplification, a practical method for screening circulating tumor cells was established.

Recent years have witnessed the great contributions that drug combination therapy has made for enhanced cancer therapy. However, because of the complicated pharmacokinetics of combined drug formulations, the majority of combination strategies show severe adverse effects at high dosage and poor biodistribution in vivo. To overcome these deficiencies and achieve enhanced cancer therapy, we put forward a method to construct a smart albumin-based nanoplatform, denoted as K237-HSA-DC, for codelivery of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor (celecoxib) and chemotherapeutic agent (doxorubicin, DOX). Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that K237-HSA-DC exhibits the best therapeutic efficacy on tumor cells compared with all the other formulations. Moreover, K237-HSA-DC shows fewer side effects on normal organs in contrast to other formulations. To understand the reasons behind the improved drug efficacy in depth, we performed a cell metabonomics-based mechanism study and found that celecoxib could enhance the inhibitory effect of DOX on the transport of glucose into cells and then lead to subsequent significant energy metabolism inhibition. Considering the above-mentioned advantages of K237-HSA-DC, we believe the smart albumin-based nanoplatform can serve as a promising drug delivery system for enhanced cancer therapy.

Mechanical synthesis is a low-cost industrial-compatible technique to fabricate chalcogenide glasses. In this paper, the mechanical synthesis of the ionic conductive GeS2-Ga2S3-Li2S-LiI glass powders by ball milling is studied. The structure, glass-forming ability, and ionic conductivity are compared with the reported GeS2-Ga2S3-Li2S-LiI glasses prepared by the melt-quench process. The similarity of the glass network fabricated by these two techniques is revealed by Raman spectroscopy. As for the conductivity, about 1/3–1/2 of the conductivity of the bulk glass can be achieved by simply cold-pressing the as-milled glass powders into pellets. Evident “room-temperature sintering” is observed in the Li-rich samples, which plays a key role in achieving high ionic conductivity in the cold-pressed pellets.

In this paper, high-heat-resistant polymeric composite products were prepared via the traditional melt blending process by incorporating N,N′-bis(benzoyl) adipic acid dihydrazide (BAAD) into poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA), which acted as an organic nucleating agent. The heat distortion temperature (HDT) of the PLLA/BAAD composite samples was measured by an HDT apparatus, and a high value of 96.2°C was achieved at a BAAD loading fraction of 0.5 wt.%, whereas, at the same processing conditions, the HDT of PLLA/talc specimens reached a similar value at a talc content of 20 wt.%, which was much higher than the BAAD content. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction analyses were applied to determine the melting and crystallization behavior of the PLLA/BAAD blends. Polarized optical microscopy was used to observe the crystalline morphologies. Thermogravimetric analysis was employed to study the effect of BAAD on the thermal stability of PLLA. Measurement of the mechanical property confirmed that the addition of BAAD was beneficial to the enhancement of the mechanical properties of the resulting blends. However, the tensile strength of the PLLA/talc composites decreased with increasing weight fraction of talc.