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Three-dimensional (3D) network structure of metal–organic framework (MOF) can accommodate outstanding electrocatalysis performances, but always collapse during the conversion to active materials or applications process. How to maintain the 3D network when producing active species is of great importance for full application of MOF. Herein, a new MOF material, In[Co(CN)6] (In-Co PBA) nanocubes, are firstly synthesized. Through a controlled low-temperature deligandation process, the In-Co PBA nanocubes are transformed to a novel In2O3@In-Co PBA quasi-MOF nanocubes, which basically retain the 3D porous structure of PBA but with in situ generated In2O3 nanoparticles inside. When used as CO2RR electrocatalyst, such a novel cubic composite structure exhibits excellent performances with faradaic efficiency of 85% for formate at a potential of −0.96 V and with current density of 31.5 mA·cm−2 at −1.32 V, surpassing most of the reported indium-based catalysts. The excellent performance can be attributed to the special composite structure, which provides not only active sites by In2O3 nanoparticles to catalyze CO2RR, but also the 3D porous framework by quasi-MOF to accelerate gaseous exchange and electrolyte permeation and prevent the electrode choking. This work offers a new strategy for the design of post-transition metal catalysts and the structure design of quasi-MOF.

Six novel donor–acceptor conjugated polymers were designed and synthesized by the Stille coupling reaction of triarylamine derivatives as donor units with isoindigo derivative or benzothiadiazole as acceptor units. These polymers have good solubility and film-forming properties in common organic solvents. The char yields of polymers in nitrogen atmosphere at 800 °C range from 34 to 60%. In particular, these conjugated polymers exhibit high photoluminescence (PL) quantum efficiency (up to 42.9%). These polymers demonstrate two pairs of redox peaks with low onset voltages (0.51 V vs. Ag/AgCl for P5) and narrow band gaps (Eg = 2.52 ~ 2.95 eV). The colors of all polymer films change significantly with the applied voltage increasing. Moreover, the polymers show high coloring efficiency (up to 163%) and maintain good electrochromic (EC) cycle stability over 500 s. In addition, excellent results in terms of memory storage (ON/OFF = 1.2 × 104), 2,4,6-Trinitrophenol (TNP) detection (Ksv = 45,790 M-1) can meet the requirements of multifunctional materials.

High-entropy materials have gained extensive attention owing to their unique structural characteristics and outstanding properties. The synthesis of high-entropy compounds, particularly high-entropy metal phosphides, has been seldom reported because of the incompatibility between different metals and non-metals. Herein, we propose a one-step low temperature sol–gel strategy to overcome the incompatibility and synthesize high-entropy metal phosphide (HEMP) NiCoFeMnCrP nanoparticles on a carbon matrix. Due to the synergistic effect among the metal elements, NiCoFeMnCrP exhibits supernormal catalytic activities for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and overall water splitting. The fact that the overpotentials for the OER and HER decrease with the increase of the metal species number demonstrates that the realization of high entropy has great effects on performance enhancement. Our work provides a facile and viable synthesis strategy for preparing high entropy compounds which would offer great potential in energy and electrocatalysis applications by entropy engineering.

Exploring cost-effective and general approaches for highly active and stable bifunctional transition metal phosphide (TMP) electrocatalysts towards overall water splitting is greatly desirable and challenging. Herein, a general strategy combining sol-gel and a carbonization-assisted route was proposed to facilely fabricate a series of TMP nanoparticles, including CoP, MoP, FeP, Cu2P, Ni2P, PtP2, FeNiP, CoNiP, and FeCoNiP, coupled in an amorphous carbon matrix with one-step carbon composite formation. The resultant NiFeP@C exhibits excellent activities as a bifunctional electrocatalyst toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with low overpotentials of 260 and 160 mV, respectively, at 10 mA/cm2 in 1 M KOH solution. With the NiFeP@C electrocatalyst as both electrode materials, an integrated electrolyzer can deliver 47.0 mA/cm2 of current density at 1.60 V, better than the assembled Pt/C20∥IrO2 counterpart. The encapsulation of NiFeP nanoparticles in the carbon matrix effectively prevents their corrosion and leads to almost unfading catalytic activities for more than 20 h for either the HER, OER, or overall water splitting, outperforming recently reported bifunctional electrocatalysts. The coexistence of Ni, Fe, P, and C would have synergetic effects to accelerate charge transfer and promote electrocatalytic activity. This universal strategy for TMP-based composites opens up a new avenue to explore TMPs as multifunctional materials for various applications.

NiFe alloy catalysts have received increasing attention due to their low cost, easy availability, and excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic activity. Although it is considered that the co-existence of Ni and Fe is essential for the high catalytic activity, the identification of active sites and the mechanism of OER in NiFe alloy catalysts have been controversial for a long time. This review focuses on the catalytic centers of NiFe alloys and the related mechanism in the alkaline water oxidation process from the perspective of crystal structure/composition modulation and structural design. Briefly, amorphous structures, metastable phases, heteroatom doping and in situ formation of oxyhydroxides are encouraged to optimize the chemical configurations of active sites toward intrinsically boosted OER kinetics. Furthermore, the construction of dual-metal single atoms, specific nanostructures, carbon material supports and composite structures are introduced to increase the abundance of active sites and promote mass transportation. Finally, a perspective on the future development of NiFe alloy electrocatalysts is offered. The overall aim of this review is to shed light on the exploration of novel electrocatalysts in the field of energy., Effective strategies to increase the intrinsic activity by electronic modulation and to increase the number of active sites by structural design are discussed for improving the oxygen evolution activities of NiFe alloys.

It is a challenging task to seek a highly-efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of water splitting. Non-noble Co-based nanomaterials are considered as earth-abundant and effective catalysts to lower overpotential and increase polarization current density of OER. In this work, we reported, for the first time, a “rapid solvent-evaporation” strategy for the synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) cobalt complex hierarchical architectures constructed by two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets. The 3D structured cobalt complexes have excellent performances in catalyzing OER with lower onset potential, overpotential, Tafel slope and better stability than commercial IrO2. Superior electrochemical performances would be beneficial from the unique 3D structure. This extremely simple method for 3D Co complex with good OER activities makes the complex be promising commercial OER catalyst to replace earth-rare and expensive IrO2.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic, synovitis-based inflammatory disease with unknown etiology. Neutrophils play important roles in the pathogenesis of RA. Apoptosis and NETosis of neutrophils are two major mechanisms of programmed cell death that differ in their morphological characteristics and effects on the immune system. In rheumatoid arthritis, delayed neutrophil apoptosis amplifies the inflammatory response; and massive release of NETs and their components may cause tissue damage and provide self-antigens. Emodin is a natural anthraquinone derivative that occurs in many widely used Chinese medicinal herbs. In this study, we evaluated the effect of emodin on a murine adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) model of RA in vivo and on neutrophil apoptosis and NETosis in vitro. Our results show that emodin alleviated AA by reducing neutrophil infiltration and proinflammatory cytokine (interleukin-6, interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-α) release. Emodin promoted apoptosis and inhibited autophagy and NETosis in neutrophils. These findings indicate that emodin represents a potential therapeutic agent for RA.

Hollow nanostructures with large surface area and additional free volume enable increasing contacting area and structure stability, beneficial to improve photocatalytic and lithium storage performances. Although successes have been achieved for spherical and cubic hollow structures, it is still a big challenge to prepare hollow materials with special structures. Herein we report a facile templated route for novel three-dimensional titanium dioxide tube-in-tube superstructures (TTS) with α-Fe2O3 hollow prisms as removable templates. The novel TiO2 TTS exhibit an obvious enhancement in photocatalysis to decompose rhodamine B under simulated sunlight compared with commercial TiO2 and TiO2 nanospheres. As anode material for LIB, the achieved sample delivers a high specific capacity of about 150 mAh·g−1 over 500 cycles, outperforming most of TiO2-based anode materials. These outstanding multifunction performances can be attributed to the unique tube-in-tube superstructures with large surface area and many active sites.

Four novel multifunctional electrochromic materials (PTT, PDTT, PNT and PDNT) based on tetraphenylethylene (TPE) and triphenylamine (TPA) units by Stille coupling reaction were prepared. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements found that four polymers had low resistance values which improved their electrochemical and electrochromic properties. In addition, the maximum coloration efficiency (CE; η) value is 126 cm2/C at 1246 nm of PDTT, bleaching and coloring response times are 2.6 s and 1.6 s, respectively. There is no significant change of performance after a 100 cycle scanning. In addition to their excellent electrochromic properties, they also exhibit a strong aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect. Furthermore, the fluorescence color of PDNT changed from bright green to black when voltage was applied from 0.0 to 1.6 V. Four polymers responded rapidly to light and they maintained stability over a 1000 s cycle.

Objective: Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) plays an important role in the development of acne, an inflammatory skin disease with a high-incidence. In this study, we used high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to reveal the anti-inflammatory mechanism of baicalin on P. acnes-induced acne in rabbits. Methods: The Kligman method was used to induce acne in the ears of New Zealand rabbits. The effect of baicalin on the acne model was evaluated by the number of acne lesions and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of acne tissues. Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay was used to measure the protein expression levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFA), interleukin-1 β (IL1B), IL6, and IL8 in the serum of rabbits. RNA-seq was performed to investigate the mechanism of anti-inflammatory activities of baicalin on acne. Immunohistochemical analysis and Western blot were used to validate the expression levels of related proteins in acne tissues. Results: Baicalin treatment significantly reduced the number of acne lesions and lesions of the ear as well as levels of serum inflammatory cytokines. RNA-seq data showed that baicalin treatment globally suppressed inflammation, especially the TNF signaling pathway and Staphylococcus aureus infection pathway, in the rabbit acne model. Conclusion: Baicalin effectively ameliorates P. acnes-induced acne in rabbits by suppressing the inflammatory response in rabbits. Keywords: Acne, Baicalin, P. acnes, TNF signaling pathway, Complement pathway

Domestication of a transposon (a DNA sequence that can change its position in a genome) to give rise to the RAG1–RAG2 recombinase (RAG) and V(D)J recombination, which produces the diverse repertoire of antibodies and T cell receptors, was a pivotal event in the evolution of the adaptive immune system of jawed vertebrates. The evolutionary adaptations that transformed the ancestral RAG transposase into a RAG recombinase with appropriately regulated DNA cleavage and transposition activities are not understood. Here, beginning with cryo-electron microscopy structures of the amphioxus ProtoRAG transposase (an evolutionary relative of RAG), we identify amino acid residues and domains the acquisition or loss of which underpins the propensity of RAG for coupled cleavage, its preference for asymmetric DNA substrates and its inability to perform transposition in cells. In particular, we identify two adaptations specific to jawed-vertebrates—arginine 848 in RAG1 and an acidic region in RAG2—that together suppress RAG-mediated transposition more than 1,000-fold. Our findings reveal a two-tiered mechanism for the suppression of RAG-mediated transposition, illuminate the evolution of V(D)J recombination and provide insight into the principles that govern the molecular domestication of transposons. Identification of the changes that converted a transposase to a recombinase sheds light on the evolution of the vertebrate adaptive immune system.

In this work, a series of multifunctional polyurethane (PU) materials containing three kinds of different triarylamine (TAA) units was prepared. These polymers show good solubility in common organic solvents and excellent thermal stability under a N2 atmosphere. The PU films show reversible color changes with high contrast ratios and electrochromic stability. Moreover, they have good memory storage performance. The ON/OFF current ratio is about two orders of magnitude. Meanwhile, they can be used as detectors for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The polymer solutions rapidly exhibit fluorescence-quenching phenomena when exposed to trace amounts of TNT and TNP. The PU films also have mechanical properties that make them suitable for use in stretchable devices.

A multifunctional integrated platform based on conjugated oligomers containing novel triarylamine (TAA) and fluorene units with responding to voltage, light and explosives stimuli and performing for sensors, detectors, memory media and high contrast displays was designed, and the stimuli-responsive mechanisms were studied. These oligomers show excellent thermal stability with no significant weight loss below 350 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. During the electrochemical reoxidation process, the oligomer films exhibit two pairs of obvious redox peaks with the strong color changes from yellowish of neutral state to green and blue of oxidized state, and remain good continuous cyclic stability over 500s with a cycle time of 10s. The electrofluorescent properties of the oligomers also can be tuned by electrochemistry redox, exhibiting high contrast. Meanwhile, non-volatile rewritable flash memory devices were produced with the sandwich structure ITO/oligomer/Al, which could gain the ON/OFF current ratio as high as about 104 at low threshold voltage of 1.2 V.

Palladium (Pd) is regarded as a potential non-platinum electrocatalyst to drive oxygen reduction in fuel cells. The development of Pd-based electrocatalysts with high performances through structural engineering is still highly desirable. Herein, a facile one-pot synthesis strategy with the assistance of dual surface protecting agents was developed to fabricate carbon-supported Pd (Pd/C) nanodendrites with high mesoporosity. The mesoporous spherical Pd/C nanodendrites are built with connected nanoparticles with a small size of several nanometers and coated by simultaneously formed carbon layers. The used dual protecting agents, glycine and oleylamine, exhibit synergistic effects to engineer Pd growth to form the unique mesoporous dendritic structure. Benefiting from the mesoporous feature, small size, defect-rich surface and carbon coating, the obtained mesoporous Pd/C nanodendrites exhibit great electrocatalytic performance toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).

The development of multi-responsive chemosensors has a bright application prospect in environmental monitoring and biological diagnosis. In this paper, we report two kinds of fluorescent polyaniline-like derivatives containing of carbazole or fluorene moieties with two-dimensional (2D) nano-layered structure and their applications in the detection of Al3+, Fe3+, Cu2+ and HCl in different environments. Through the analysis of the structure and properties of these two 2D materials, we find that the prepared (Poly(9,9'-(9,9-dihexyl-9H-fluorene-2,7-diyl)bis(9H-carbazol-3-amine))) PDFCA material performs excellent sensing properties for above analytes. Relevant density functional theory (DFT) calculation further confirms the potential application of 2D nano-layered PDFCA material in sensing field. This study presents that 2D nano-layered PDFCA material is considerably competitive in the development of multi-responsive chemosensors, and it will greatly accelerate the research of 2D polymer materials.

Non-precious, stable and efficient catalysts for the pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are highly desirable to meet the vast energy demands. Herein, we report a facile and scalable strategy using agaric as a precursor to construct a Mo2C-based HER electrocatalyst consisting of ultrafine Mo2C nanoparticles embedded within biomass-derived 3D N-doped carbon nanorod arrays@nanosheet networks (Mo2C@N-CANs). This electrocatalyst is highly active for the pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction and requires overpotentials of only 82 mV, 100 mV and 350 mV to drive a current density of −10 mA cm−2 in acidic, alkaline and neutral media, exhibiting stable operation for 3000 cycles and 24 h long-term stability. Theoretical calculations indicate that coupling Mo2C, N and CANs into a hybrid results in producing wrinkles on carbon nanolayers, which changes the direction of sp2 hybrid orbitals to push the Gibbs free energy toward zero. This result reinforces the presence of a synergy effect between Mo2C and N-CANs in Mo2C@N-CAN catalysts, which leads to their impressive HER performances.

Neutrophils are a major member of the innate immune system and play pivotal roles in host defense against pathogens and pathologic inflammatory reactions. Neutrophils can be recruited to inflammation sites via the guidance of cytokines and chemokines. Overwhelming infiltration of neutrophils can lead to indiscriminate tissue damage, such as in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Neutrophils isolated from peritoneal exudate respond to a defined chemoattractant, N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP), in vitro in Transwell or Zigmond chamber assays. The air pouch experiment can be used to evaluate the chemotaxis of neutrophils towards lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vivo. The adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) mouse model is frequently used in RA research, and immunohistochemical staining of joint sections with anti-myeloperoxidase (MPO) or anti-neutrophil elastase (NE) antibodies is a well-established method to measure neutrophil infiltration. These methods can be used to discover promising therapies targeting neutrophil migration.

We report here that a series of novel donor-acceptor (D–A) conjugated polymers based on isoindigo were synthesized and characterized. As novel electrochromic materials, their optical and electrochemical properties have been investigated. Cyclic voltammograms (CV) of the polymer films exhibit two pairs of obvious redox peaks in the range of 0.76–1.80 V with strong color changes in the visible and near infrared (NIR) regions. The coloring and bleaching time are in the range of 3.5–4.9 s and 4.4–5.0 s, respectively. The amount of char yield at 800 °C in nitrogen for polymers was in the range of 56–64%. Especially, the polymers show strong fluorescence with a fluorescence quantum efficiency (ФPL) of up to 32.5% which is reported firstly. In addition, memory properties, explosive detection and photoelectric properties for polymers are studied which indicating promising results.

A series of alternate copolymers D‑co‑Ts named P(DPP‑TA) P(DPP‑Cz) and P(DPP‑DB) consisting of both diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) and different triarylamine (TAA) units, were synthesized by Stille cross-coupling reaction in which DPP acts as an acceptor and TAA acts as a donor. These D‑co‑Ts show good thermal stability in nitrogen (N2) atmosphere. The solutions of D‑co‑Ts have strong UV–vis absorption bands in the range of 313 nm to 344 nm and have fluorescence (PL) peaks at from 415 nm to 496 nm with high quantum efficiency. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels and Eg were combined with via cyclic voltammograms (CV) as −5.19 eV to −5.41 eV, −3.77 eV to −3.80 eV, and 1.42 eV to 1.62 eV, respectively. The P(DPP‑TA) film shows the evident color changes from original yellow to brownish to blue. New absorption peaks of P(DPP‑TA) appear at 412 nm and 938 nm with increasing voltage in the UV–vis spectrophotometer, indicating D‑co‑Ts can be promising electrochromic materials. The highest coloration efficiency reaches up to be 270 cm2 C−1 for the P(DPP‑Cz). The memory performances of the ITO/polymer/Al sandwich devices were also studied, in which D‑co‑Ts exhibit the typical nonvolatile rewritable flash memory characteristics. The device of P(DPP‑DB) shows an ON/OFF current ratio of 5.80 × 104 under a threshold voltage of −1.80 V. Furthermore, in the explosive detection tests, the copolymer shows new emission band at 570 nm with addition of TNT, and the PL quenching efficiency goes up to be 82%.

Bioactive compounds from medicinal plants with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects have been emerging as important sources of drugs for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. Triptolide, a diterpene triepoxide, is a pharmacologically active compound isolated from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF) that is used as a remedy for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. As the most promising bioactive compound obtained from TwHF, triptolide has attracted considerable interest recently, especially for its potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activities. Over the past few years, an increasing number of studies have been published emphasizing the value of triptolide in the treatment of diverse inflammatory disorders. Here, we systematically review the mechanism of action and the therapeutic properties of triptolide in various inflammatory diseases according to different systematic organs, including lupus nephritis, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis with pubmed and Embase. Based on this review, potential research strategies might contribute to the clinical application of triptolide in the future.

In terms of promising candidates for high-performance fuel cells and water splitting electrocatalysts, two-dimensional (2D) materials refer to a class of materials with high electrical conductivity along 2D conducting channels and possessing abundant active sites in the form of surface atoms and edge sites. Herein, we report an ammonia-modulated method for the synthesis of nanosized bimetallic ZnCo-ZIF, and owing to quantum effects, the nanosized ZnCo-ZIF can be transformed into novel 2D nanosheet arrays, which can be used as a bifunctional electrocatalyst. The size of the ZnCo-ZIF crystals can be controlled to less than 10 nm by increasing the ammonia amount. The products from the nanosized particles through calcination have a distinct structure from the microsized nanoparticles owing to quantum effects and appear to be well-aligned 2D mono-crystalline Co3 O4 -embedded nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheet arrays (2D-MCo3 O4 -NCNAs). These novel 2D nanosheet arrays lead to large active surface areas, enhanced mass/charge transport capability, numerous active sites, and strong structure stability. When used as bifunctional catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the 2D-MCo3 O4 -NCNAs exhibit superior ORR activity as well as efficient OER activity in alkaline electrolyte, in comparison to the state-of-the-art precious metal catalysts.

Two 1H-imidazol-4-yl-containing ligands 1,3-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)benzene (L1) and 4,4′-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)biphenyl (L2) were employed to react with corresponding metal salt together with varied carboxylate ligands under hydro- and solvothermal conditions, and six new metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) [Cd(L1)(oba)]·DMF (1), [Ni3(L1)2(BPT)2(H2O)4] (2), [Zn2(L1)2(HBPT)2]·H2O (3), [Ni(L1)(BPTC)0.5(H2O)2] (4), [Ni2(μ2-O)(L2)3(Hoba)2(H2O)2] (5), and [Ni2(L2)3(BPTC)(H2O)2]·6H2O (6) [H2oba = 4,4′-oxybis(benzoic acid), H3BPT = biphenyl-3,4′,5-tricarboxylic acid, H4BPTC = biphenyl-3,3′,5,5′-tetracarboxylic acid, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide] were achieved and structurally characterized. MOFs 1, 3, 4, and 5 are different two-dimensional networks, which are further joined together by hydrogen bonds to generate three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular frameworks. 2 is a (4,4)-connected binodal 3D framework with a point symbol of {3·4·5·83}4{32·82·92}, while 6 is a diamond 3D framework. The results show that coordination geo...

Highly active, durable, and cost-effective electrocatalysts for water oxidation are at the center of renewable energy technologies. However, the development of water oxidation catalysts with high activity at low cost remains a great challenge. Herein, an in situ antisolvent approach is reported for synthesizing ultrathin Co-Ni layered double hydroxide (CoNi-LDH) nanosheets wrapped on hollow Co3 O4 nanoparticle-embedded nitrogen-doped carbon (HCo3 O4 -NC) as a high-performance catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Although HCo3 O4 -NC or NiCo-LDH alone has little OER activity, their hybrid exhibits low overpotential and Tafel slope as well as high stability, due to the synergistic effect of Co3 O4 and LDH. Furthermore, the hydrangea-like HCo3 O4 -NC@NiCo-LDH core@shell composite exhibits higher catalytic activity and stability than commercial IrO2 , which makes it a high-performance nonprecious-metal-based catalyst for OER.

The synthesis of ultrathin magnetic nanosheets is significant for the development of next-generation nanodevices but remains to be a big challenge. Herein, we present facile approaches for large-scaled production of cell-unit-thick single-crystalline iron oxide nanostructures. The ultrathin hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanosheets with unit-cell thickness of 1.3 nm are firstly synthesized using a metal-ion-intervened hydrothermal method. Then the α-Fe 2 O 3 nanosheets are converted to magnetic maghemite ( γ -Fe 2 O 3 ) nanosheets with unit-cell thickness of 0.8 nm by a simple calcination process. The Li-ion battery studies reveal that unit-cell-thick γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanosheets exhibit great enhanced electrochemical performances with high specific capacitance approaching to its theoretical value and excellent cycling stability.

Two rigid 1H-imidazol-4-yl containing ligands of 1, 3-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)benzene (L1) and 1, 4-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)benzene (L2) were used to react with Ni(II) and Cd(II) salts together with 1,3,5-tri(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene (H3BTB) under hydro- and solvo-thermal conditions, and four new complexes [Ni3(L1)4(BTB)2(C2H5OH)2(H2O)6]·3H2O (1), [Cd3(L1)2(BTB)2(H2O)]·DMF·H2O (2), [Ni3(L2)3(BTB)2(H2O)6]·4H2O (3) and [Cd3(L2)3(BTB)2]·H3BTB·H2O (4) (DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) were achieved and structurally characterized. The complexes show structural diversity. 1 is an infinite one-dimensional (1D) chain, 3 and 4 are two-dimensional (2D) networks, which are further linked together by hydrogen bonds to give eventual three-dimensional (3D) architectures, while 2 is a 3D framework. Fluorescent sensing and selectively adsorption properties of the complexes were investigated.

Herein, three kinds of electrochromic aromatic polyimides (PIs) were synthesized from 4,4′-diamino-4″-(quinolin-8-yloxy) triphenylamine (DAQTPA) with different dianhydrides, respectively. These PIs showed good thermostability below 450 °C even in air atmosphere. The maximum UV–vis absorption bands of PIs located at 321–338 nm for solid films. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of the PIs were calculated from the cyclic voltammetry (CV) test as − 5.42 to − 5.44 eV and − 3.53 to − 3.85 eV, respectively. These PIs performed stable reversible electrochromic properties with optical transmittance change (ΔT) around 28–43% and coloration efficiency (η) around 74–117 cm 2 C − 1 .

In this work, we report a facile approach to synthesize uniform Co3O4 hollow spheres with tunable shell numbers via controllably annealing cobalt(II) complex precursors at different heating rates. When evaluated as anodes for LIBs, the multi-shelled Co3O4 spheres exhibit high specific capacity, good rate capabilities and excellent cycling stability (1058 mA h g−1 over 100 cycles at 1 A g−1).

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by symmetric polyarthritis with swelling and pain at synovial joints. In RA patients, delayed neutrophil apoptosis amplifies the inflammatory response and massively released neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) induce tissue damage and provide self-antigens. Andrographolide (AD) is the major active labdane diterpenoid derived from Andrographis paniculata, which has multiple pharmacological effects, including hepatoprotection, anti-angiogenesis, anti-thrombosis, and anti-inflammation. In the present study, we investigated the effect of AD on an adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) murine model of RA and found that AD alleviated murine arthritis by reducing neutrophil infiltration and NETosis in the ankle joints and relieved the systematic inflammation. In vitro experiments showed that AD accelerated the apoptosis of lipopolysaccharide-activated neutrophils and inhibited autophagy-dependent extracellular traps formation of neutrophils. These findings suggest that AD has considerable potential for RA therapy.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prototypical autoimmune disorder mainly characterized by joint inflammation and cartilage destruction. Neutrophils actively take part in the initiation and progression of RA. Neutrophils express inflammatory mediators, including cytokines and chemokines. Aberrant formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) has been demonstrated in the pathogenesis of RA. Thus, neutrophils are regarded as important therapeutic targets in RA treatment. Quercetin is one of the major flavonoids found in fruits and vegetables. Previous studies have demonstrated that quercetin is a potential agent for the treatment of RA. However, the underlying antiarthritic mechanism of quercetin has not been investigated clearly. In this study, we analyzed the therapeutic mechanism of quercetin for RA. Our results showed that quercetin ameliorates inflammation in RA mice by inhibiting neutrophil activities. Quercetin inhibited neutrophil infiltration and reduced the plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines. Quercetin promoted the apoptosis of activated neutrophils. In addition, quercetin inhibited NET formation by suppressing autophagy. These findings suggest that quercetin may be an alternative agent for the treatment of RA by inhibiting neutrophil activities.

Four kinds of main-chain benzoxazine polymers (PBZ) containing triarylamine (TAA) units were synthesized by Mannich reaction and characterized by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) techniques, etc. Thermal, optical, photophysical and electrochemical properties were studied. The 50% of char residue is left in N2 at 800 °C. The polymers are soluble in common organic solvents and easily spin-coated onto indium‑tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates. All the polymers have voltage window ranging from 0 to 1.8 V, and the colors change from yellowish to dark red when voltage is applied. Meanwhile, device assembled from polymer exhibit significant color changes. Furthermore, the polymers also have promising potential application in explosive detection and resistance memory devices.

Novel tube-in-tube tin dioxide superstructures (TTS) were synthesized with α-Fe2O3 hollow prisms as templates and due to the special tube-in-tube structure, the SnO2 TTS possess brilliant lithium storage properties.

Nowaday, developing sustainable energy storage and conversion techniques is of great desire to alleviate energy demands and environmental pollution, in which the core issue is to develop cost-efficient, high-performance and sustained electrode materials. Herein, we proposed a cost-efficient strategy by integrating solvothermal technique, calcination and up-stream gas method to fabricate bifunctional phosphorus-doped CoO core@shell microspheres, which perform great in both energy conversion (hydrogen evolution reaction) and energy storage (supercapacitor). Due to core@shell structure and phosphorus doping, the resulted P–CoO core@shell structures possess high specific surface area, enhanced conductivity and additional active sites. As a result, the P–CoO exhibits excellent electrocatalytic HER performances in alkaline media with a low overpotential (143 mV at 10 mA/cm2) and long-term stability (more than 24 h). Meanwhile, the prepared material presents greatly improved supercapacitive properties with ultrahigh capacitance (1845 F/g at 1 A/g) and excellent cycling stability. Therefore, this strategy provides a new contribution to develop multifunctional electrochemical-active materials for energy conversion and storage.

In this study, mixed-metal sulfide Zn1-xMnxS nanorod-assembled hierarchical hollow spheres are successfully synthesized via a template-free solvothermal process base on Ostwald ripening process. In the reaction system the glycerol plays a key role for the formation of ZnxMn1-xS hierarchical hollow structures through a "quasi-microemulsion-template" mechanism. When applied as capacitor electrode material, the hierarchical Zn1-xMnxS hollow spheres display excellent electrochemical performances. Specifically, Zn0.25Mn0.75S hollow spheres can deliver a high specific capacitance of 664 Fg-1 at a current rate of 1 Ag-1, which is almost five times of that of the MnS sample under the same conditions and higher than those of previously reported single Mn-based compounds.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) call for brand new and advanced materials to alleviate the pressure on depletion of fossil fuels. Carbon materials with controlled structures are considered to be potential anode materials of LIBs due to their desirable advantages. Herein, a novel three dimensional (3D) structure of carbon nanocages supported by ultrathin carbon nanosheets (CNCs@CNSs) has been synthesized through a facile one-step route by graphitizing common surfactant. The ultrathin carbon nanosheets possess a thickness of 1.6 nm with hollow carbon nanocages dispersing on them to prevent the stacking. As the first combination of carbon nanocages with two dimensional (2D) carbon nanosheets, the 3D hybrids show excellent LIB performances and exhibit a reversible capacity of 650 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C with rare capacity loss. Fast charging in 10 min with a high capacity of 580 mAh g−1 at 10 C after 500 cycles has also been exploited, which presents broad prospects for the advancement of LIBs.

Colloidosomes are three dimensional superstructures composed of building blocks with various morphologies and would have great application potentials in many fields. However, complicated synthesis procedures have restricted their extensive applications. In this work, we reported a facile one-pot synthesis approach to fabricate hollow core–shell α-Fe2O3 colloidosomes via a solvothermal method. The colloidosomes have an average diameter of 3 μm and both the core and the shell of the α-Fe2O3 colloidosomes are assembled by α-Fe2O3 nanoplates, which are composed of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. When evaluated as a lithium-ion battery anode, these core–shell α-Fe2O3 colloidosomes exhibited high reversible discharge and charge capacities and stable cyclability.

In leather industry, it is a big challenge to deal with tons of waste leathers, especially those containing chromium. On the other hand, non-precious cost-effective hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts are of considerable demands for environmentally-friendly energy production. Herein, in order to meet these two challenges, we creatively utilized chromium-containing waste leathers to fabricate high performance non-precious HER catalysts. Leather consists of collagen bundles; high temperature annealing of Cr-containing waste leather results in the formation of (Cr, N)-co-doped carbon cloth (CNCC). Molybdenum carbide nanoparticles can be simultaneously coupled onto CNCC (Mo2C@CNCC) by loading Mo oxyanions on waste leather through wet impregnation before annealing. The resulted Mo2C@CNCC is self-supported and can be directly applied as HER electrode, which exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic HER performances in alkaline media with low overpotential (113 mV at 10 mA/cm2) and long-term stability (more than 70 h). The existence of Cr in waste leather is unbeneficial for waste leather disposition, but plays an important role to enhance the HER performances. This simple “changing harm for the treasure” route provides a new green concept for dealing with waste leather and creating high performance electrocatalysts.

Rod-like fluorescent material (4,7-di-pyrrol-1-yl-benzo[1,2,5]thiadiazole) with D-A-D structure is successfully designed and synthesized by introducing functional pyrrole group on benzothiadiazole molecule. Theoretical and experimental methods are adopted to deeply analyze its electronic structure, microstructure and optical properties. Upon the addition of Fe(Ⅲ) or Cr(Ⅵ), it immediately shows fluorescence quenching phenomenon while the addition of other ions exhibits no obvious quenching effect. The corresponding results reveal that DPYBT is quite promising for the fluorescence detection of Fe(Ⅲ) and Cr(Ⅵ), and the limit of detection for them are 3.04 μM and 43.5 nM, respectively. Meanwhile, it is practical for the visible detection in real environment. It also performs a great potential in search of new drugs towards 4DDM protein.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by cellular infiltration into the joints and cartilage destruction. Neutrophils play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of RA. Triptolide (TP) is a bioactive compound derived from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, which has been used in folk medicine as a treatment for a variety of inflammatory disorders, including RA, for many centuries. Previous studies have shown that TP possesses anti-arthritic activity. However, the anti-arthritic mechanism of TP remains to be fully defined. In the present study, we used the adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) murine model of RA to investigate the impact of TP on RA and neutrophil function. TP alleviated AA by reducing neutrophil recruitment and suppressing the expression of interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α in vivo. TP also suppressed the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in neutrophils, promoted neutrophil apoptosis and inhibited the migration, NETosis and autophagy of neutrophils in vitro. Based on our findings, TP effectively ameliorates RA by down-regulating neutrophil inflammatory functions, indicating that TP represents a potential therapeutic agent for RA.

Manganese oxides with different crystalline phases and morphologies were prepared by calcining MnCO3 precursors. The MnCO3 precursors with different morphologies were obtained through a green route under hydrothermal conditions with orange pericarp extracting solution as the reducing agent. By calcining the precursor under different temperatures and atmospheres, MnO x with different stoichiometric ratios (i.e., MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3, and Mn3O4) can be obtained. Electrochemical studies reveal that among these manganese oxides, MnO or MnO2 are more suitable as supercapacitor working electrodes than Mn2O3 or Mn3O4. They exhibit high specific capacitance up to 296.6 F/g and also possess good cycling stability, which make them potential electrode materials for supercapacitors.

We developed a one-step method to obtain a high dispersion of Pt-based alloy nanoparticles on graphene by using both the carrier function and the reducibility of carbon without the addition of any other reducing agent. This method opens up a general and feasible route for the synthesis of different metals, and binary and ternary alloys (such as Pt, Pt–Cu, Pt–Ni, Pt–Ni–Cu, Pt–Co–Cu, Pt–Au–Cu, and so on) on graphene sheets, which would bring potential applications in many fields. Particularly in this study, the obtained PtCu/G composites exhibit superior electrochemical activities and high poison tolerance toward methanol oxidation compared to Pt/graphene and commercial Pt/graphene composites, demonstrating that PtCu/graphene can be used as a promising catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells.

Four new metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) [Zn(L)(bpdc)]·1.6H2O (1), [Co(L)(bpdc)]·H2O (2), [Ni3(L)2(bptc)2(H2O)10]·2H2O (3) and [Cd2(L)(Hbptc)2] (4) were achieved by reactions of the corresponding metal salt with mixed organic ligands of 1,4-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)benzene (L) and 4,4'-benzophenonedicarboxylic acid (H2bpdc) or biphenyl-2,4',5-tricarboxylic acid (H3bptc). They exhibit varied structures: MOFs 1 and 4 are porous three-dimensional (3D) frameworks, while 2 is an infinite one-dimensional (1D) chain and 3 is a two-dimensional (2D) network. Remarkably, 1 and 4 can act as potential fluorescent materials for sensing Fe(iii) ions and different ketone molecules with high selectivity and sensitivity. In addition, MOF 1 shows selective adsorption of CO2 over N2.

In this study, we developed a one-step self-activated route for synthesizing novel core–shell Cu@polymer nanocomposites. Under solvothermal conditions, Cu2+ was reduced to metal copper by formaldehyde and salicylaldehyde and the newly generated copper crystals acted as the catalysts to activate the condensation polymerization between formaldehyde and salicylaldehyde, resulting in the formation of core–shell Cu@polymer nanocomposites with Cu nanoparticles as the cores and polymer as the shells. The Cu@polymer nanocomposites can be applied as a nonenzymatic sensor for glucose detection. The as-prepared Cu@polymer nanocomposite modified electrode shows good linear dependence in a wide range from 0.01 mM to 1 mM, a low detection limit, high sensitivity up to 1417.1 μA cm−2 mM−1 and great selectivity to glucose concentration change.

Herein, two metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), [Co4(μ3-OH)2(L)(BTB)2(H2O)3]·5.6H2O (1) and [Cd3(L)2(BTB)2(μ2-H2O)]·7.4H2O (2), based on 1,3-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl)benzene (L) and 1,3,5-tri(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene (H3BTB), respectively, have been achieved. Compound 1 is a porous three-dimensional (3D) framework with butterfly-like tetranuclear clusters as 7-connected nodes, and compund 2 is a 3D net with a different topology. Remarkably, compounds 1 and 2 exhibit selective adsorption of CO2 over N2 and methyl orange (MO) dye molecules. Magnetic measurements reveal that there are antiferromagnetic interactions within the tetranuclear cluster in 1. Furthermore, 2 was well-dispersed in different solvents, and their luminescent properties were investigated, and the results indicated that 2 could be considered as a potential luminescent probe for the detection of ketone molecules.

Four novel materials containing isoindigo derivatives were synthesized via Stille coupling reaction. These polymers not only have excellent electrochromic properties (the highest electrochromic efficiency reaches 195 cm2 C−1), but also have low charge transfer resistance (Rct). The range of switching threshold is from −1.7 V to −4.0 V and the current ratio of the device beyond 10−5 for memory device. Moreover, the polymers can also be used as explosive detector. A sharp drop in the fluorescence intensity of the polymer appeared when trinitrotoluene (TNT) or 2, 4, 6-trinitrophenol (TNP) was added.

One-dimensional (1D) cobalt acetate hydroxide (Co 5 (OH) 2 (CH 3 COO) 8 ·2H 2 O) prisms has been obtained through a low temperature re-crystallization process in the dissolvant of ethanol and then transferred to cobalt oxide by calcining in the air. Cobalt oxide keeps the outside configuration of the 1D cobalt acetate hydroxide but turns to be boxes with hollow structure inside through the Kirkendall effect. The precursor prisms and polycrystalline boxes both have length of about 3 μm, width of 300 nm and height of 300 nm characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The electrochemical measurement results show that the hollow Co 3 O 4 structures exhibit wonderful capacitive properties with high capacitance and good cyclicity.

In this study, solid ZnSn(OH) 6 microspheres were successfully synthesized with water-soluble biopolymer sodium alginate as crystal growth modifiers and ammonia as basic source under hydrothermal conditions. In the alkaline solution, the solid ZnSn(OH) 6 spheres can be gradually corroded by ammonia to form hollow ZnSn(OH) 6 spheres under the hydrothermal conditions through a dissolution–reprecipitation mechanism. Gas sensor tests indicate that hollow ZnSn(OH) 6 spheres have a better response to ethanol compared to solid ZnSn(OH) 6 spheres, which might be due to the hollow structure-resulted larger specific surface area. This method would provide a potential route for the synthesis of hollow ternary compounds.

A unique homochiral metal–organic framework has been successfully synthesized by solvothermal reaction of an achiral flexible V-shaped ligand and a nanosized π-electron-deficient pyridine ligand based on cobalt(II) salt, [Co(L)(DPNDI)0.5]n (1) (H2L = 4,4′-dicarboxydiphenylamine, DPNDI = N,N′-di-(4-pyridyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenediimide); the helixes assembled by H2L and cobalt(II) paddle-wheel centers are left-handed and transform the framework to chiral. Also, the inserting of the DPNDI transforms the original dia net constructed by H2L and cobalt(II) paddle-wheel centers to a 3-fold jsm net. This is the first example of interpenetrated jsm net. In addition, the chiral property of bulk products is confirmed by circular dichroism spectra (CD), and the thermal stability and the magnetic properties are also investigated.

In this study, we investigated the synthesis of monodisperse CuO hard and hollow nanospheres with extraordinary visible-light photocatalytic abilities for dye photodegradation. The monodisperse CuO hard nanospheres were constructed with assistance from the water-soluble biopolymer sodium alginate (SA). In alkaline solution, the hard CuO spheres can be gradually corroded by ammonia to form hollow CuO nanospheres under hydrothermal conditions. Their visible-light photocatalytic activities were investigated and the results show that both of the hard and the hollow CuO spheres have great visible-light photocatalytic abilities for the photodegradation of dyes. In particular, CuO hollow nanospheres show extraordinary photodegradation activity towards Methyl blue (MB) and it only takes 1 min for 50 mg of CuO hollow spheres to photodegrade 100 mL of 50 mg L–1 MB solution by using solar light and without the assistance of any equipment while for 50 mg of P25 (TiO2), it takes more than 30 min even under UV irradiation. As promising energy-saving materials, CuO nanospheres would have great application potential in environment protection technology.

We successfully controlled the crystallographic surface of ZnSn(OH)(6) crystals and systematically obtained ZnSn(OH)(6) crystals in different shapes including cubes, truncated cubes, cuboctahedrons, truncated octahedrons, and octahedrons using a simple solvothermal method in a methylcellulose (MC) ethanol/water solution. By simply adjusting the amount of the NaOH solution added to the reaction system, we observed the shape evolution of ZnSn(OH)(6) particles from cube to octahedron, with the sizes gradually increasing from about 200 nm to 1-2 μm. These results not only provide ZnSn(OH)(6) polyhedra bound by different lattice planes, but also make it possible to investigate the morphology-property relationship of ZnSn(OH)(6) particles with different morphologies obtained under similar conditions. The antibacterial activities of the as-prepared ZnSn(OH)(6) polyhedral particles were studied. It was found that the antibacterial activities of ZnSn(OH)(6) particles against Escherichia coli depend on the shape of the ZnSn(OH)(6) particles, demonstrating that the surface structure of nanocrystals affects the antibacterial activity. Additionally, the obtained ZnSn(OH)(6) polyhedra can be applied as precursors for Zn(2)SnO(4)/SnO(2) composites with different morphologies by calcining at 600 °C.