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An effective electrochemical immunosensor for detecting the liver cancer biomarker was developed based on the hedgehog-like Bi 2 S 3 nanostructure, which was synthesized using novel CTAB-trimellitic acid as a composite soft template and thiourea as the sulfur source by a simple hydrothermal method with 20-fold sensitivity enhancement and one order of magnitude increase of linear range. The electrochemical immunosensor presented excellent performance, and could be applied to detect the cancer biomarker in clinical serum samples.

Fuel oil, the most important strategic resource, has been widely used in industrial applications. However, the sulfur-containing compounds in fuel oil also present humanity with huge environmental issues and health concerns due to the hazardous combustion waste. To address this problem, the low vulcanization of fuel production technology has been intensively explored. Compared with traditional hydrodesulfurization technology, the newly emerged photocatalytic desulfurization has the advantages of milder operating conditions, lower energy consumption, and higher efficiency, holding great prospect to achieve deep desulfurization. Though great efforts have been made, the desulfurization catalysts still suffer from inferior light absorption, fast recombination of photocarriers, and poor structure modification. This Review summarizes recent development of photocatalytic desulfurization, including the desulfurization principle, current desulfurization challenges, and corresponding solutions. Particularly, the roles of defect engineering, hybrid coupling, and structure modifications in the enhancement of photocatalytic performance are emphasized. In addition, the photocatalytic desulfurization mechanism is also introduced with the . OH and . O 2 - radicals as main active species. Finally, some perspectives on the photocatalytic desulfurization are provided, which can further optimize the desulfurization efficiency and guide future photocatalyst design., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Convolutional neural network (CNN) has been gradually applied to steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) of the brain-computer interface (BCI). Frequency-domain features extracted by fast Fourier Transform (FFT) or time-domain signals are used as network input. In the frequency-domain diagram, the features at the short time-window are not obvious and the phase information of each electrode channel may be ignored as well. Hence we propose a time-domain-based CNN method (tCNN), using the time-domain signal as network input. And the filter bank tCNN (FB-tCNN) is further proposed to improve its performance in the short time-window. We compare FB-tCNN with the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) methods and other CNN methods in our dataset and public dataset. And FB-tCNN shows superior performance at the short time-window in the intra-individual test. At the 0.2 s time-window, the accuracy of our method reaches 88.36 ± 4.89 % in our dataset, 77.78 ± 2.16 % and 79.21 ± 1.80 % respectively in the two sessions of the public dataset, which is higher than other methods. The impacts of training-subject number and data length in inter-individual or cross-individual are studied. FB-tCNN shows the potential in implementing inter-individual BCI. Further analysis shows that the deep learning method is easier in terms of the implementation of the asynchronous BCI system than the training data-driven CCA. The code is available for reproducibility at https://github.com/DingWenl/FB-tCNN.

The practical applications of lithium metal anodes in high-energy-density lithium metal batteries have been hindered by their formation and growth of lithium dendrites. Herein, we discover that certain protein could efficiently prevent and eliminate the growth of wispy lithium dendrites, leading to long cycle life and high Coulombic efficiency of lithium metal anodes. We contend that the protein molecules function as a "self-defense" agent, mitigating the formation of lithium embryos, thus mimicking natural, pathological immunization mechanisms. When added into the electrolyte, protein molecules are automatically adsorbed on the surface of lithium metal anodes, particularly on the tips of lithium buds, through spatial conformation and secondary structure transformation from α-helix to β-sheets. This effectively changes the electric field distribution around the tips of lithium buds and results in homogeneous plating and stripping of lithium metal anodes. Furthermore, we develop a slow sustained-release strategy to overcome the limited dispersibility of protein in the ether-based electrolyte and achieve a remarkably enhanced cycling performance of more than 2000 cycles for lithium metal batteries.

Nowadays, an ever-increasing variety of organic contaminants in water has caused hazards to the ecological environment and human health. Many of them are persistent and non-biodegradable. Various techniques have been studied for sewage treatment, including biological, physical and chemical methods. Photocatalytic advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have received increasing attention due to their fast reaction rates and strong oxidation capability, low cost compared with the non-photolytic AOPs. This review is dedicated to summarizing up-to-date research progress in photocatalytic AOPs, such as Fenton or Fenton-like reaction, ozonation and sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation processes. Mechanisms and activation processes are discussed. Then, the paper summarizes photocatalytic materials and modification strategies, including defect chemistry, morphology control, heterostructure design, noble metal deposition. The future perspectives and challenges are also discussed., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Sodium-based batteries have attracted considerable attention and are recognized as ideal candidates for large-scale and low-cost energy storage. Sodium (Na) metal anodes are considered as one of the most promising anodes for next-generation, high-energy, Na-based batteries owing to their high theoretical specific capacity (1166 mA h g -1 ) and low standard electrode potential. Herein, an overview of the recent developments in Na metal anodes for high-energy batteries is provided. The high reactivity and large volume expansion of Na metal anodes during charge and discharge make the electrode/electrolyte interphase unstable, leading to the formation of Na dendrites, short cycle life, and safety issues. Design strategies to enable the efficient use of Na metal anodes are elucidated, including liquid electrolyte engineering, electrode/electrolyte interface optimization, sophisticated electrode construction, and solid electrolyte engineering. Finally, the remaining challenges and future research directions are identified. It is hoped that this progress report will shape a consistent view of this field and provide inspiration for future research to improve Na metal anodes and enable the development of high-energy sodium batteries., (© 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Designing atomically dispersed metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a promising approach to achieve efficient energy conversion. Herein, we develop a template-assisted method to synthesize a series of single metal atoms anchored on porous N,S-codoped carbon (NSC) matrix as highly efficient ORR catalysts to investigate the correlation between the structure and their catalytic performance. The structure analysis indicates that an identical synthesis method results in distinguished structural differences between Fe-centered single-atom catalyst (Fe-SAs/NSC) and Co-centered/Ni-centered single-atom catalysts (Co-SAs/NSC and Ni-SAs/NSC) because of the different trends of each metal ion in forming a complex with the N,S-containing precursor during the initial synthesis process. The Fe-SAs/NSC mainly consists of a well-dispersed FeN 4 S 2 center site where S atoms form bonds with the N atoms. The S atoms in Co-SAs/NSC and Ni-SAs/NSC, on the other hand, form metal-S bonds, resulting in CoN 3 S 1 and NiN 3 S 1 center sites. Density functional theory (DFT) reveals that the FeN 4 S 2 center site is more active than the CoN 3 S 1 and NiN 3 S 1 sites, due to the higher charge density, lower energy barriers of the intermediates, and products involved. The experimental results indicate that all three single-atom catalysts could contribute high ORR electrochemical performances, while Fe-SAs/NSC exhibits the highest of all, which is even better than commercial Pt/C. Furthermore, Fe-SAs/NSC also displays high methanol tolerance as compared to commercial Pt/C and high stability up to 5000 cycles. This work provides insights into the rational design of the definitive structure of single-atom catalysts with tunable electrocatalytic activities for efficient energy conversion.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion hybrid capacitors and zinc-ion batteries are promising safe energy storage systems. In this study, amorphous RuO 2 ·H 2 O for the first time was employed to achieve fast and ultralong-life Zn 2+ storage based on a pseudocapacitive storage mechanism. In the RuO 2 ·H 2 O||Zn zinc-ion hybrid capacitors with Zn(CF 3 SO 3 ) 2 aqueous electrolyte, the RuO 2 ·H 2 O cathode can reversibly store Zn 2+ in a voltage window of 0.4-1.6 V (vs. Zn/Zn 2+ ), delivering a high discharge capacity of 122 mAh g -1 . In particular, the zinc-ion hybrid capacitors can be rapidly charged/discharged within 36 s with a very high power density of 16.74 kW kg -1 and a high energy density of 82 Wh kg -1 . Besides, the zinc-ion hybrid capacitors demonstrate an ultralong cycle life (over 10,000 charge/discharge cycles). The kinetic analysis elucidates that the ultrafast Zn 2+ storage in the RuO 2 ·H 2 O cathode originates from redox pseudocapacitive reactions. This work could greatly facilitate the development of high-power and safe electrochemical energy storage.

It is of great significance to fabricate a full-spectrum-active photocatalysts for more efficient utilization of solar energy. An improved metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) mechanism is proposed for a photocatalyst based on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ). UV/Vis spectroscopy indicates that the as-prepared photocatalyst absorbs light at λ<1100 nm. The rather stable photocatalyst is found to be 26.1 times more active in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (868.9 μmol h -1  g -1 ) than bulk g-C 3 N 4 (B-CN) under visible light. The material exhibits high activity under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation (49.1 μmol h -1  g -1 ). The mechanism of photocatalytic activity and stability are investigated by both experiment and theory. This proposed mechanism may have great potential for engineering renewable photocatalysts in the future., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

In the process of electrochemical deposition of metals, the additives can directly affect the final morphology of the metal. Using glyphosate as the additive, copper thin films were prepared by the electrochemical deposition method from a CuSO 4 aqueous solution under a specific voltage. The copper thin films were grown on the surface of the indium tin oxide (ITO) film, which was used as the working electrode in a classical three-electrode cell. Glyphosate combined with the copper ion to form a complex, and hindered further reduction and crystallization of the copper ions. The results indicated that the peak intensities of the X-ray diffraction peaks decreased with the increase in the glyphosate concentrations, which can be used as a basis for quantitative detection. The method is simple and highly sensitive., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been regarded as one of the most promising candidates for next-generation energy storage owing to their high energy density and low cost. However, the practical deployment of Li-S batteries has been largely impeded by the low conductivity of sulfur, the shuttle effect of polysulfides, and the low areal sulfur loading. Herein, we report the synthesis of uniform Co-Fe mixed metal phosphide (Co-Fe-P) nanocubes with highly interconnected-pore architecture to overcome the main bottlenecks of Li-S batteries. With the highly interconnected-pore architecture, inherently metallic conductivity, and polar characteristic, the Co-Fe-P nanocubes not only offer sufficient electrical contact to the insulating sulfur for high sulfur utilization and fast redox reaction kinetics but also provide abundant adsorption sites for trapping and catalyzing the conversion of lithium polysulfides to suppress the shuttle effect, which is verified by both the comprehensive experiments and density functional theory calculations. As a result, the sulfur-loaded Co-Fe-P (S@Co-Fe-P) nanocubes delivered a high discharge capacity of 1243 mAh g -1 at 0.1 C and excellent cycling stability for 500 cycles with an average capacity decay rate of only 0.043% per cycle at 1 C. Furthermore, the S@Co-Fe-P electrode showed a high areal capacity of 4.6 mAh cm -2 with superior stability when the sulfur loading was increased to 5.5 mg cm -2 . More impressively, the prototype soft-package Li-S batteries based on S@Co-Fe-P cathodes also exhibited superior cycling stability with great flexibility, demonstrating their great potential for practical applications.

Lithium-iodine (Li-I) batteries have attracted tremendous attention due to their high energy and power densities as well as the low cost of iodine. However, the severe shuttle effect of iodine species and the uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth have strongly hindered their practical applications. Here we successfully develop a quasi-solid-state Li-I battery enabled by a MXene-based iodine cathode and a composite polymer electrolyte (CPE) containing NaNO 3 particles dispersing in a pentaerythritol-tetraacrylate-based (PETEA-based) gel polymer electrolyte. As verified by experimental characterizations and first-principle calculations, the abundant functional groups on the surface of MXene sheets provide strong chemical binding to iodine species, and therefore immobilize their shuttling. The PETEA-based polymer matrix simultaneously suppresses the diffusion of iodine species and stabilizes the Li anode/CPE interface against dendrite growth. The NaNO 3 particles act as an effective catalyst to facilitate the transformation kinetics of LiI 3 on the cathode. Owing to such synergistic optimization, the as-developed Li-I batteries deliver high energy/power density with long cycling stability and good flexibility. This work opens up a new avenue to improve the performance of Li-I batteries., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Nowadays, microorganisms, including bacteria and viruses, are regarded as new environmental pollutants and pose serious threats to public health. Yet, traditional disinfection approaches for bacteria and viruses are generally ineffective. Furthermore, they exhibit the disadvantages of high-energy consumption, environmental pollution, high cost, and toxic byproduct generation. In this respect, nanomaterials display promising antimicrobial capabilities due to their unique properties and provide solutions to the abovementioned issues. Herein, recent progress in the development of 2D nanomaterials displaying antimicrobial capabilities is highlighted. The structures, morphologies, and performances of essential metal, graphene, and nitride-based 2D antibacterial nanomaterials are summarized in detail. In addition, possible antimicrobial mechanisms and the relationship between structure and antimicrobial efficiency are elaborated., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Nowadays, two-dimensional materials have many applications in materials science. As a novel two-dimensional layered material, MXene possesses distinct structural, electronic, and chemical properties; thus, it has potential applications in many fields, including battery electrodes, energy storage materials, sensors, and catalysts. Up to now, more than 70 MAX phases have been reported. However, in contrast to the variety of MAX phases, the existing MXene family merely includes Ti 2 C, Ti 3 C 2 , (Ti 1/2 , Nb 1/2 ) 2 C, (V 1/2 , Cr 1/2 ) 3 C 2 , Nb 2 C, Ti 3 CN, Ta 4 C 3 , V 2 C, and Nb 4 C 3 . Among these materials, the Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene exhibits prominently high volumetric capacitance, and the rate at which it transports electron is suitable for electrode materials in batteries and supercapacitors. Hence, Ti 3 C 2 T x is commonly utilized as an electrode material in ion batteries such as Li + , Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , and Al 3+ batteries. What is more, Ti 2 C has the biggest specific surface area among all of these potential MXene phases, and therefore, Ti 2 C has remarkably high gravimetric hydrogen storage capacities. In addition, Ti 2 CO 2 materials display extremely high activity for CO oxidation, which makes it possible to design catalysts for CO oxidation at low temperatures. Furthermore, Ti 3 C 2 T x with O, OH, and/or F terminations can be used for water purification owing to excellent water permeance, favorable filtration ability, and long-time operation ability. This review supplies a relatively comprehensive summary of various applications of MXenes over the past few years., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Lithium-rich oxides have been regarded as one of the most competitive cathode materials for next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to their high theoretical specific capacity and high discharge voltage. However, they are still far from being commercialized due to low rate capability and poor cycling stability. In this study, we propose a heterostructured LiAlF 4 coating strategy to overcome those obstacles. The as-developed lithium-rich cathode material shows outstanding performance including a high reversible capacity (246 mA h g -1 at 0.1C), excellent rate capability (133 mA h g -1 at 5C), and ultralong cycling stability (3000 cycles). Comparing with those of pristine and AlF 3 -coated lithium-rich cathode materials, the enhanced performances can be attributed to the introduction of the lithium-ion-conductive nanolayer and the generation of nonbonding O n- species in the active material lattice, which enable rapid and effective lithium ion transport and diffusion. Our work provides a new strategy to develop high-performance lithium-rich cathode materials for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries.

High activity and stability are crucial for the practical use of electrocatalysts in fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and water electrolysis, including the oxygen reduction reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxidation reactions of formic acid and alcohols. Electrocatalysts based on nitrogen-containing carbon (N-C) materials show promise in catalyzing these reactions; however, there is no systematic review of strategies for the engineering of active and stable N-C-based electrocatalysts. Herein, a comprehensive comparison of recently reported N-C-based electrocatalysts regarding both electrocatalytic activity and long-term stability is presented. In the first part of this review, the relationships between the electrocatalytic reactions and selection of the element to modify the N-C-based materials are discussed. Afterwards, synthesis methods for N-C-based electrocatalysts are summarized, and strategies for the synthesis of highly stable N-C-based electrocatalysts are presented. Multiple tables containing data on crucial parameters for both electrocatalytic activity and stability are displayed in this review. Finally, constructing M-N x moieties is proposed as the most promising engineering strategy for stable N-C-based electrocatalysts., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Sodium (Na) metal is one of the most promising electrode materials for next-generation low-cost rechargeable batteries. However, the challenges caused by dendrite growth on Na metal anodes restrict practical applications of rechargeable Na metal batteries. Herein, a nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon nanotube (NSCNT) paper is used as the interlayer to control Na nucleation behavior and suppress the Na dendrite growth. The N- and S-containing functional groups on the carbon nanotubes induce the NSCNTs to be highly "sodiophilic," which can guide the initial Na nucleation and direct Na to distribute uniformly on the NSCNT paper. As a result, the Na-metal-based anode (Na/NSCNT anode) exhibits a dendrite-free morphology during repeated Na plating and striping and excellent cycling stability. As a proof of concept, it is also demonstrated that the electrochemical performance of sodium-oxygen (Na-O 2 ) batteries using the Na/NSCNT anodes show significantly improved cycling performances compared with Na-O 2 batteries with bare Na metal anodes. This work opens a new avenue for the development of next-generation high-energy-density sodium-metal batteries., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a glycoprotein secreted by placental trophoblast cells in pregnancy. HCG is a heterodimer composed of two different α- and β-subunits, with the latter being unique to HCG. As well as being the most important diagnostic markers for pregnancy, HCG is also a tumor marker, therefore, quantitative detection of HCG is of great value. Numerous advanced technologies have been developed for HCG concentration detection including electrochemical immunoassay, chemiluminescent immunoassay, fluorescence immunoassay, resonance scattering spectrometry, atomic emission spectrometry, radioimmunoassay, MS and so on. Some have pursued simple and easy operation, while others have emphasized on accuracy and applications in clinical medicine. This review provides a comprehensive summary of various methods of detecting HCG.

Microcantilever-based immunosensor is a next-generation electromechanical technique with broad application in biological detection. In this paper, we reported a microcantilever-based immunosensor that quantitatively detect the carbofuran, by using monoclonal antibodies to carbofuran as the receptor molecules. The surface of gold-coated microcantilever was chemically modified by the crosslinking of l-cysteine (l-cys)/glutaraldehyde (GA). The monoclonal antibodies to carbofuran were then immobilized on the side of the microcantilever to fabricate the immunosensor, the mechanical bending induced by antigen-antibody specific binding under an experimental environment. Under the optimized conditions, immunosensor detected carbofuran showed a good linear relationship over the range from 1.0×10 -7 to 1.0×10 -3 g/L (R=0.998), with a detection limit of 0.1ng/mL. Moreover, the proposed immunosensor exhibited high sensitivity, specificity and good stability and can be successfully applied in the carbofuran determination in soil and vegetable samples with satisfactory results., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Free-standing trimethylolpropane ethoxylate triacrylate gel polymer electrolyte is synthesized by a chemical cross-linking process and used as an electrolyte and separator membrane in lithium-sulfur batteries. The cross linked gel polymer electrolyte also exhibited a stable geometric size retention of 95 % at the high temperature of 130 °C. The as-prepared gel polymer electrolyte membrane with carbon nanofibers interlayer can effectively prevent polysulfide dissolution and shuttle effect, leading to significantly enhanced electrochemical properties, including high capacity and cycling stability, with an enhanced specific capacity of 790 mA h g -1 after 100 cycles., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets were prepared from eucalyptus tree leaves by simply mixing the leaf powders with KHCO 3 and subsequent carbonisation. Porous carbon nanosheets with a high specific surface area of 2133 m 2  g -1 were obtained and applied as electrode materials for supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries. For supercapacitor applications, the porous carbon nanosheet electrode exhibited a supercapacitance of 372 F g -1 at a current density of 500 mA g -1 in 1 m H 2 SO 4 aqueous electrolyte and excellent cycling stability over 15 000 cycles. In organic electrolyte, the nanosheet electrode showed a specific capacitance of 71 F g -1 at a current density of 2 Ag -1 and stable cycling performance. When applied as the anode material for lithium ion batteries, the as-prepared porous carbon nanosheets also demonstrated a high specific capacity of 819 mA h g -1 at a current density of 100 mA g -1 , good rate capability, and stable cycling performance. The outstanding electrochemical performances for both supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries are derived from the large specific surface area, porous nanosheet structure and nitrogen doping effects. The strategy developed in this paper provides a novel route to utilise biomass-derived materials for low-cost energy storage systems., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A non-enzymatic glucose sensor, based on the silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs)/poly (o-phenylenediamine) (PoPD) composites, is developed by the electrochemical polymerization of o-phenylenediamine and electrodeposition of silver nanoparticles on an indium tin oxide electrode. The Ag-NPs/PoPD composites are characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometer. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the proposed glucose sensor demonstrates a wide linear range from 0.15 to 13mmolL -1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.998. The proposed glucose sensor can be used to detect glucose in blood sample with a satisfactory result. In addition, the proposed sensor presents the advantages, such as facile preparation, low cost, high sensitivity and fast response time. It also exhibits good anti-interference performance and stability., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) has been widely used in fields related to energy and materials science. However, nanostructured g-C 3 N 4 photocatalysts synthesized by traditional thermal polycondensation methods have the disadvantage of small specific surface areas and wide band gaps; these limit the catalytic activity and application range of g-C 3 N 4 . Based on the unique nanostructure of g-C 3 N 4 , it is a feasible method to modify g-C 3 N 4 with metals to design novel metal-semiconductor composites. Metals alter the photochemical properties of g-C 3 N 4 , in particular, narrow the band gap and expand photoabsorption into the visible range, which improves the photocatalytic performance. This review covers recent progress in metal/g-C 3 N 4 nanocomposites for photocatalysts, organic systems, biosensors, and so on. The aim is to summarize the synthetic methods, nanostructures, and applications of metal/g-C 3 N 4 nanocomposite materials, as well as discuss future research directions in these areas., (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Low-cost and sustainable sodium-ion batteries are regarded as a promising technology for large-scale energy storage and conversion. The development of high-rate anode materials is highly desirable for sodium-ion batteries. The optimization of mass transport and electron transfer is crucial in the discovery of electrode materials with good high-rate performances. Herein, we report the synthesis of 3 D interconnected SnO2 /graphene aerogels with a hierarchically porous structure as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries. The unique 3 D architecture was prepared by a facile in situ process, during which cross-linked 3 D conductive graphene networks with macro-/meso-sized hierarchical pores were formed and SnO2 nanoparticles were dispersed uniformly on the graphene surface simultaneously. Such a 3 D functional architecture not only facilitates the electrode-electrolyte interaction but also provides an efficient electron pathway within the graphene networks. When applied as anode materials in sodium-ion batteries, the as-prepared SnO2 /graphene aerogel exhibited high reversible capacity, improved cycling performance compared to SnO2 , and promising high-rate capability., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

This review presents a comprehensive attempt to conclude and discuss various glucose biosensors based on core@shell magnetic nanomaterials. Owing to good biocompatibility and stability, the core@shell magnetic nanomaterials have found widespread applications in many fields and draw extensive attention. Most magnetic nanoparticles possess an intrinsic enzyme mimetic activity like natural peroxidases, which invests magnetic nanomaterials with great potential in the construction of glucose sensors. We summarize the synthesis of core@shell magnetic nanomaterials, fundamental theory of glucose sensor and the advances in glucose sensors based on core@shell magnetic nanomaterials. The aim of the review is to provide an overview of the exploitation of the core@shell magnetic nanomaterials for glucose sensors construction.

The long-standing challenge associated with capacity fading of spinel LiMn2 O4 cathode material for lithium-ion batteries is investigated. Single-crystalline spinel LiMn2 O4 nanorods were successfully synthesized by a template-engaged method. Porous Mn3 O4 nanorods were used as self-sacrificial templates, into which LiOH was infiltrated by a vacuum-assisted impregnation route. When used as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, the spinel LiMn2 O4 nanorods exhibited superior long cycle life owing to the one-dimensional nanorod structure, single-crystallinity, and Li-rich effect. LiMn2 O4 nanorods retained 95.6 % of the initial capacity after 1000 cycles at 3C rate. In particular, the nanorod morphology of the spinel LiMn2 O4 was well-preserved after a long-term cycling, suggesting the ultrahigh structural stability of the single crystalline spinel LiMn2 O4 nanorods. This result shows the promising applications of single-crystalline spinel LiMn2 O4 nanorods as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries with high rate capability and long cycle life., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Candida glycerinogenes, a glycerol production industrial strain with hyperosmo-adaptation can grow well in 15 % (w/v) NaCl or 55 % (w/v) glucose. To understand the osmo-adaptation mechanism in C. glycerinogenes, the mitogen-activated protein kinase HOG1 gene (CgHOG1), which plays an essential role in the yeast hyperosmotic response, was isolated by degenerate PCR and SEFA-Formed Adaptor PCR. The CgHOG1 gene was then transformed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae hog1Δ null mutant, which restored the recombination S. cerevisiae to the wild-type phenotype with osmo-adaptation. To further clarify the function of CgHOG1, the phosphorylation of CgHOG1 and transcription of the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GPD1) of the CgHOG1-harbouring S. cerevisiae mutant was detected, and found to be similar to that of wild-type S. cerevisiae. In addition, the recombination S. cerevisiae with CgHOG1 gene significantly accumulated intracellular glycerol when stressed with NaCl.

An electrochemical sensor based on a copolymer poly(4-vinylpyridine)-co-poly(acrylonitrile), P4VP-co-PAN, and Fe2O3 nanoparticle film modified glassy carbon electrode was developed for the determination of glucose. We studied the response of glucose with the proposed electrode, and determined the optimum conditions by changing the potential, pH and P4VP-co-PAN. The current response measurements were performed in PBS (c=0.1 M) with a potential of 0.7 V. The current response of this glucose sensor showed a linear relationship with the concentration in the range of 2.5 μM-0.58 mM (r=0.997). The experimental results demonstrate that this method has such merits as simple operation, low cost, high sensitivity, long term stability and good reproducibility, with satisfactory results., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A modified method based on in situ chemical reduction was developed to prepare mono-dispersed polystyrene/silver (PS/Ag) composite microspheres. In this approach; mono-dispersed PS microspheres were synthesized through dispersion polymerization using poly-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a dispersant at first. Then, poly-dopamine (PDA) was fabricated to functionally modify the surfaces of PS microspheres. With the addition of [Ag(NH₃)₂]⁺ to the PS dispersion, [Ag(NH₃)₂]⁺ complex ions were absorbed and reduced to silver nanoparticles on the surfaces of PS-PDA microspheres to form PS/Ag composite microspheres. PVP acted both as a solvent of the metallic precursor and as a reducing agent. PDA also acted both as a chemical protocol to immobilize the silver nanoparticles at the PS surface and as a reducing agent. Therefore, no additional reducing agents were needed. The resulting composite microspheres were characterized by TEM, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), XRD, UV-Vis and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The results showed that Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were homogeneously immobilized onto the PS microspheres' surface in the presence of PDA and PVP. PS/Ag composite microspheres were well formed with a uniform and compact shell layer and were adjustable in terms of their optical property.

In this experiment, fenvalerate antibodies were immobilised on the electrode by the crosslinking with glutaraldehyde modified on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) via chitosan. Fenvalerate was measured by the increase of electron transfer resistance when the immune reaction occurred with Fe(CN)6(3-)/Fe(CN)6(4-) as the probe. Under optimal conditions, the change of resistance is in a linear relationship with the logarithm of the concentration in the range of 1.0×10(-3)∼1.0×10(1)mg/L (R=0.998) with a detection limit of 0.80 μg/L. This method bears such merits as simplicity of operation, high sensitivity, wide linear range, specificity, reproducibility and good stability. The immunosensor was applied in the detection of real samples of tea, achieving satisfactory results, and it could be regenerated after being placed alternately in 0.5 mol/L HCl and 0.5 mol/L NaOH solutions., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Single crystalline rhombus-shaped Na(0.7)MnO2 nanoplates have been synthesized by a hydrothermal method. TEM and HRTEM analyses revealed that the Na(0.7)MnO2 single crystals predominantly exposed their (100) crystal plane, which is active for Na(+)-ion insertion and extraction. When applied as cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries, Na(0.7)MnO2 nanoplates exhibited a high reversible capacity of 163 mA h g(-1), a satisfactory cyclability, and a high rate performance. The enhanced electrochemical performance could be ascribed to the predominantly exposed active (100) facet, which could facilitate fast Na(+)-ion insertion/extraction during the discharge and charge process., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

In this paper, open-tubular capillary column coated with graphene oxide (GO) was prepared through ionic adsorption of negatively charged GO nanosheets onto the capillary wall pre-modified with positively charged poly(diallydimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA). Thus prepared coating was very stable and could endure over 200 separations. The electroosmotic flow (EOF) characteristics of bare fused silica capillary column, PDDA coated column, and GO-PDDA coated column (GO-PDDA@column) were investigated by varying the percentage of methanol in buffer and the buffer pH value. The run-to-run, day-to-day, and column-to-column reproducibilities of EOF on GO-PDDA@column were satisfying with relative standard deviation values of less than 2% in all cases. The stationary phase displays a characteristic reversed-phase behavior. The GO-PDDA@column was also used to separate proteins in egg white. Both basic and acidic proteins were separated in a single run., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The graphene oxide (GO) is carbon based material that has high surface area, high adsorption ability, and is stable at high temperature. In this work, the GO phase was prepared and used for gas chromatographic separation. GO nanosheets were covalently bonded onto the inner surface of fused silica capillary column using 3-aminopropyldiethoxymethyl silane as cross-linking agent. The prepared GO nanosheets were characterized with TEM and the GO coating was characterized with SEM. As a high performance stationary phase, GO provides not only a high surface area to increase the phase ratio but also rich functional groups for the formation of hydrophobicity, hydrogen bonding, and π-π electrostatic stacking interactions with volatile aromatic or unsaturated organic compounds. Thus, mixtures of a wide range of organic compounds including alcohols and aromatic compounds were well separated and an efficiency of 1990 theoretical plates per meter for anisole was obtained on GO coated 1.0m×200μm i.d. fused silica capillary column. The experimental results demonstrate that GO coated capillary columns are promising for gas chromatographic separation., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Electrochemical impedance immunosensor, with its high sensitivity from electrochemical impedance analysis and ideal specificity from the immunoassay, is increasingly used in the detection of a kind of phenoxy acid herbicides which is 2,4-Dichlorophenoxybutyric acid (2,4-DB). In this experiment, synthetic 2,4-DB antibodies were immobilized on the electrode by the crosslinking of L-Cysteine/glutaraldehyde, and 2,4-DB were measured by the increase of electron-transfer resistance when the immune reaction occurred, with Fe(CN)(6)(3-)/Fe(CN)(6)(4-) as the probe. Under optimal conditions, the change of resistance is in a linear relationship with the logarithm of the concentration in the range of 1.0×10(-7)-1.0×10(-3) g/L (R=0.994) with the detection limit of 1.0×10(-7) g/L (0.1 ppb). This method bears such merits as simplicity in operation, high sensitivity, wide linear range, specificity, reproducibility and good stability. The actual soybean samples were analyzed with the recovery of 82.8%-102.3%., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With water droplets as sacrificed templates at a particular humidity, micro-porous solid thin films were successfully fabricated by self-assembly using an amphiphilic block polymer, polystyrene-b-polyacrylic acid (PS-b-PAA). Interface interactions between the micro-porous thin film and a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), are investigated by in-situ AFM in aqueous solutions. An interesting phenomenon was observed in water and CTAB solution, which the dimensions of the micropores are remarkably larger than the dimensions of those in air. The solid thin films exhibit different surface morphologies in response to stimulus by different concentrations of CTAB. These observations were explained by positing that the PAA chains in the micropores stretch and contract with interface interactions between PAA and CTAB. A promising electrochemical application of this film is suggested. This study is aimed at strategies for the functionalization of stimulus-responsive micro-porous solid thin films with tunable surface morphologies, and exploring new smart materials., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A rapid, low-cost, high sensitive and quantitative method to detect valiolamine in a medium for microbial culture, involving derivatization with a new labeling reagent, 4-methoxybenzenesulfonyl fluoride (MOBS-F), followed by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet (UV) detection with simple operation procedure. 4-Methoxybenzenesulfonyl chloride (MOBS-Cl) and 2-nitrobenzenesulfonyl chloride (NBS-Cl) were compared with MOBS-F as novel reagents in this paper, and the MOBS-F was chosen as the most suitable derivatization reagent. The column was thermostatic at 35 degrees C, the mobile phase flow-rate was 1.0mL/min and the detection wavelength was 240nm. For a biological sample, the separation of the derivatives was achieved using a gradient mobile system. The elution program is 88% phosphate buffer (50mM; pH=3.0) and 12% methanol for 23min, then 70% of phosphate buffer and 30% methanol for another 15min and finally 88% of phosphate buffer and 12% of methanol for 5min to re-equilibrate the column. The optimized conditions of the derivatization were as follows: derivatization reaction temperature 30 degrees C; derivatization reaction pH value 11.0, reaction time 10min and MOBS-F concentration higher than 1.5mg/mL for standard solutions and higher than 5.0mg/mL for the biological sample. Calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.050-25microg/mL for the standard solutions and 1.0-75microg/mL for the biological sample. The sensitive analytical method is helpful to control the biotechnological process of voglibose production and product quality control.

The electrochemical oxidation of L-cysteine (CySH) in presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) formed a composite film at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) as a novel modifier for directly electroanalytical determination of terbinafine without sample pretreatment in biological fluid. The determination of terbinafine at the modified electrode with strongly accumulation was studied by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The peak current obtained at +1.156 V (vs. SCE) from DPV was linearly dependent on the terbinafine concentration in the range of 8.0 x 10(-8)-5.0 x 10(-5 )M in a B-R buffer solution (0.04 M, pH 1.81) with a correlation coefficient of 0.998. The detection limit (S/N=3) was 2.5 x 10(-8 )M. The low-cost modified electrode showed good sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. This developed method had been applied to the direct determination of terbinafine in human serum samples with satisfactory results. It is hopeful that the modified electrode will be applied for the medically clinical test and the pharmacokinetics in future.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and cysteic acid based on electrochemical oxidation of L-cysteine (CySH) to form a novel composite thin film material at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for electroanalytical determination of nimesulide. The determination of nimesulide at the composite modified electrode with strong accumulation of nimesulide was studied by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The peak current obtained at +1.251 V (versus SCE) from DPV was linearly dependent on the nimesulide concentration in the range of 1.0 x 10(-7) -1.0 x 10(-5) M in 0.05 M H(2)SO(4) solution with a correlation coefficient of 0.997. The detection limit (S/N = 3) was found to be 5.0 x 10(-8) M. The low-cost modified electrode showed good sensitivity, selectivity, stability and had been applied to the determination of nimesulide in pharmaceutical formulation and human serum samples with satisfactory results.

A new ultraviolet (UV) labeling reagent, p-acetamidobenzenesulfonyl fluoride (PAABS-F), was designed and synthesized to label and determine the amino acids by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with diode-array detector (DAD). PAABS-F is very stable and easy to synthesize. It reacted with primary or secondary amino acids very quickly under facile conditions to give corresponding derivatives in high yield with excellent sensitivity and stability. No by-products were observed in amino acid derivatives when stored at room temperature under natural daylight for at least 7 days. Both amino acids standard solution and real samples reacted with this new UV labeling reagent smoothly to form high UV-absorption derivatives. The labeled 20 standard amino acids were efficiently separated by CE and the mass detection limits (S/N=3) were ranged from 59.3 fmol for L-tryptophan to 1.70 pmol for L-histidine.