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The development of earth-abundant transition-metal-based electrocatalysts with bifunctional properties (oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)) is crucial to commercial hydrogen production. In this work, layered double hydroxide (LDH)-zinc oxide (ZnO) heterostructures and oxygen vacancies are constructed synchronously by plasma magnetron sputtering of NiFe-LDH. Using the optimal conditions, ZnO nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the NiFe-LDH nanoflowers, which are prepared uniformly on the three-dimensional porous Ni foam. In the LDH-ZnO heterostructures and oxygen vacancies, electrons are depleted at the Ni cations on the NiFe-LDH surface and the active sites change from Fe cations to Ni cations during OER. Our theoretical assessment confirms the change of active sites after the deposition of ZnO and reveals the charge-transfer mechanism. Owing to the significant improvement in the OER dynamics, overall water splitting can be achieved at only 1.603 V in 1 M KOH when the Ni/LDH-ZnO and Ni/LDH are used as the anode and cathode, respectively. The work reveals a novel design of self-supported catalytic electrodes for efficient water splitting and also provides insights into the surface modification of catalytic materials.

Implant-associated infections is one of the most challenging post-operative complications in bone-related implantations. To tackle this clinical issue, we developed a low-cost and durable surface coating for medical grade titanium implants that uses positively charged silane molecules. The in vitro antimicrobial tests revealed that the titanium surface coated with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane, which has the appropriate length of hydrophobic alkyl chain and positive charged amino group, suppressed more than 90% of the initial bacterial adhesion of S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, and E. coli after 30 min of incubation. In terms of growth inhibitory rate, the treated surface was able to reduce 75.7% ± 11.9% of bacterial growth after a 24-hour culturing, thereby exhibiting superior anti-biofilm formation in the late stage. When implanted into the rat model infected by S. aureus, the treated surface eliminated the implant-associated infection through the mechanism of inhibition of bacterial adhesion on the implant surface. Additionally, the treated surface was highly compatible with mammalian cells. In general, our design demonstrated its potential for human clinical trials as a low-cost and effective antibacterial strategy to minimize post-operative implant-related bacterial infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2020 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The fate of cells and subsequent bone regeneration is highly correlated with temporospatial coordination of chemical, biological, or physical cues within a local tissue microenvironment. Deeper understanding of how mammalian cells react to local tissue microenvironment is paramount important when designing next generation of biomaterials for tissue engineering. This study aims to investigate that the regulation of magnesium cationic (Mg 2+ ) tissue microenvironment is able to convince early-stage bone regeneration and its mechanism undergoes intramembranous ossification. It was discovered that moderate Mg 2+ content niche (~4.11 mM) led to superior bone regeneration, while Mg 2+ -free and strong Mg 2+ content (~16.44 mM) discouraged cell adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, thereby bone formation was rarely found. When magnesium ions diffused into free Mg zone from concentrated zone in late time point, new bone formation on free Mg zone became significant through intramembranous ossification. This study successfully demonstrates that magnesium cationic microenvironment serves as an effective biochemical cue and is able to modulate the process of bony tissue regeneration. The knowledge of how a Mg 2+ cationic microenvironment intertwines with cells and subsequent bone formation gained from this study may provide a new insight to develop the next generation of tissue-repairing biomaterials., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2020 [The Author/The Authors].)

Materials exhibiting persistent luminescence (PersL) have great prospect in optoelectronic and biomedical applications such as optical information storage, bio-imaging, and so on. Unfortunately, PersL materials with multimode emission properties have been rarely reported, although they are expected to be very desirable in multilevel anti-counterfeiting and encryption applications. Herein, Cr 3+ -doped zinc aluminum germanium (ZAG:Cr) nanoparticles exhibiting triple-mode emissions are designed and demonstrated. Upon exposure to steady 254 nm UV light, the ZAG:Cr nanoparticles yield steady bluish-white emission. After turning off the UV light, the emission disappears quickly and the mode switches to transient near-infrared (NIR) PersL emission at predominantly 690 nm. The transient NIR PersL emission which arises from Cr 3+ is induced by non-equivalent substitution of Ge 4+ . After persisting for 50 min, it can be retriggered by 980 nm photons due to the continuous trap depth distribution of ZAG:Cr between 0.65 and 1.07 eV. Inspired by the triple-mode emissions from ZAG:Cr, multifunctional luminescent inks composed of ZAG:Cr nanoparticles are prepared, and high-security labeling and encoding encryption properties are demonstrated. The results indicate that ZAG:Cr nanoparticles have great potential in anti-counterfeiting and encryption applications, and the strategy and concept described here provide insights into the design of advanced anti-counterfeiting materials., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Bacteria easily adhere, colonize, and form biofilm on oral implants subsequently causing periimplantation periarthritis and mechanical loosening. Previous studies show that a high potential surface on polymeric implants can achieve surface bacteriostasis without side effects. In this study, a high surface potential is introduced to zirconia ceramics to mitigate bacterial infection. Carbon and nitrogen plasma immersion ion implantation (C-PIII and N-PIII) are conducted on zirconia ceramic samples sequentially to elevate the surface potential. The surface with a high potential but without ion leaching exhibits excellent antibacterial effects against oral bacteria and little bacterial resistance is triggered. The surface also has high strength and excellent biocompatibility. The nitrogen-containing inorganic structure with high potential can actualize bacteriostasis and biocompatibility on zirconia ceramics simultaneously and this new strategy can enhance the antibacterial ability of oral implants., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The surface molecular chemistry, such as amine functionality, of biomaterials plays a crucial role in the osteogenic activity of relevant cells and tissues during hard tissue regeneration. Here, we examined the possibilities of creating amine functionalities on the surface of titanium by using the nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasma jet (NTAPPJ) method with humidified ammonia, and the effects on human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) were investigated. Titanium samples were subjected to NTAPPJ treatments using nitrogen (N-P), air (A-P), or humidified ammonia (NA-P) as the plasma gas, while control (C-P) samples were not subjected to plasma treatment. After plasma exposure, all treatment groups showed increased hydrophilicity and had more attached cells than the C-P. Among the plasma-treated samples, the A-P and NA-P showed surface oxygen functionalities and exhibited greater cell proliferation than the C-P and N-P. The NA-P additionally showed surface amine-related functionalities and exhibited a higher level of alkaline phosphatase activity and osteocalcin expression than the other samples. The results can be explained by increases in fibronectin absorption and focal adhesion kinase gene expression on the NA-P samples. These findings suggest that NTAPPJ technology with humidified ammonia as a gas source has clinical potential for hard tissue generation.

Two dimensional (2D) nanoribbons constitute an emerging nanoarchitecture for advanced microelectronics and energy conversion due to the stronger size confinement effects compared to traditional nanosheets. Triclinic crystalline red phosphorus (cRP) composed by a layered structure is a promising 2D phosphorus allotrope and the tube-like substructure is beneficial to the construction of nanoribbons. In this work, few-layer cRP nanoribbons are synthesized and the effectiveness in the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is investigated. An iodine-assisted chemical vapor transport (CVT) method is developed to synthesize circa 10 g of bulk cRP lumps with a yield of over 99 %. With the aid of probe ultrasonic treatment, high-quality cRP microcrystals are exfoliated into few-layer nanoribbons (cRP NRs) with large aspect ratios. As non-metallic materials, cRP NRs are suitable for the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction. The ammonia yield is 15.4 μg h -1  mg cat. -1 at -0.4 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode in a neutral electrolyte under ambient conditions and the Faradaic efficiency is 9.4 % at -0.2 V. Not only is cRP a promising catalyst, but also the novel strategy expands the application of phosphorus-based 2D structures beyond that of traditional nanosheets., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Treatment of implant-associated infection is becoming more challenging, especially when bacterial biofilms form on the surface of the implants. Developing multi-mechanism antibacterial methods to combat bacterial biofilm infections by the synergistic effects are superior to those based on single modality due to avoiding the adverse effects arising from the latter. In this work, TiO 2 nanorod arrays in combination with irradiation with 808 near-infrared (NIR) light are proven to eradicate single specie biofilms by combining photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and physical killing of bacteria. The TiO 2 nanorod arrays possess efficient photothermal conversion ability and produce a small amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Physiologically, the combined actions of hyperthermia, ROS, and puncturing by nanorods give rise to excellent antibacterial properties on titanium requiring irradiation for only 15 min as demonstrated by our experiments conducted in vitro and in vivo . More importantly, bone biofilm infection is successfully treated efficiently by the synergistic antibacterial effects and at the same time, the TiO 2 nanorod arrays improve the new bone formation around implants. In this protocol, besides the biocompatible TiO 2 nanorod arrays, an extra photosensitizer is not needed and no other ions would be released. Our findings reveal a rapid bacteria-killing method based on the multiple synergetic antibacterial modalities with high biosafety that can be implemented in vivo and obviate the need for a second operation. The concept and antibacterial system described here have large clinical potential in orthopedic and dental applications., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (© 2020 [The Author/The Authors].)

A highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor comprising an eccentric core photonic quasi-crystal fiber (PQF) coated with indium tin oxide is designed and numerically analyzed. The novel, to the best of our knowledge, structure with an eccentric core layout and local coating not only strengthens coupling between the core mode and surface plasmon polariton mode but also provides higher refractive index sensitivity in the near-infrared region. Analysis based on the finite element method to assess the performance of the sensor and optimize the structural parameters reveals that the maximum wavelength sensitivity and resolution are 96667 nm/RIU and 1.034×10 -6 R I U in the sensing range between 1.380 and 1.413, respectively. Meanwhile, the average sensitivity is enhanced to 25458 nm/RIU. The sensor is expected to have broad applications in environmental monitoring, biochemical sensing, food safety testing, and related applications due to the ultrahigh sensitivity and resolution.

An optical nanoantenna consisting of a Au-dielectric core-shell nanocube dimer with switchable directionality was designed and described. Our theoretical model and numerical simulation showed that switching between forward and backward directions can be achieved with balanced gain and loss, using a single element by changing the coefficient κ in the core, which can be defined by the relative phase of the polarizability. The optical response indicated a remarkable dependence on the coefficient κ in the core as well as frequency. The location of the electric field enhancement was specified by the different coefficient κ and, furthermore, the chained optical nanoantenna and coupled electric dipole emitted to the optical nanoantenna played significant roles in unidirectional scattering. This simple method to calculate the feasibility of unidirectional and switchable scattering provides an effective strategy to explore the functionalities of nanophotonic devices.

Structural design is often investigated to decrease the electron transfer depletion in/on the pseudocapacitive electrode for excellent capacitance performance. However, a simple way to improve the internal and external electron transfer efficiency is still challenging. In this work, we prepared a novel structure composed of cobalt (Co) nanoparticles (NPs) embedded MnO nanowires (NWs) with an N-doped carbon (NC) coating on carbon cloth (CC) by in situ thermal treatment of polydopamine (PDA) coated MnCo 2 O 4.5 NWs in an inert atmosphere. The PDA coating was carbonized into the NC shell and simultaneously reduced the MnCo 2 O 4.5 to Co NPs and MnO NWs, which greatly improve the surface and internal electron transfer ability on/in MnO boding well supercapacitive properties. The hybrid electrode shows a high specific capacitance of 747 F g -1 at 1 A g -1 and good cycling stability with 93% capacitance retention after 5,000 cycles at 10 A g -1 . By coupling with vanadium nitride with an N-doped carbon coating (VN@NC) negative electrode, the asymmetric supercapacitor delivers a high energy density of 48.15 Wh kg -1 for a power density of 0.96 kW kg -1 as well as outstanding cycling performance with 82% retention after 2000 cycles at 10 A g -1 . The electrode design and synthesis suggests large potential in the production of high-performance energy storage devices.

A promising BP/SnSe van der Waals (vdW) photovoltaic heterostructure was designed and investigated by first-principles calculations. The BP/SnSe vdW heterostructure showed inhibition of photogenerated carrier recombination as well as broad and high optical absorption intensity spanning the visible to deep ultraviolet regions reaching the order of 105 cm-1. The carrier mobility of the BP/SnSe vdW heterostructure exhibited anisotropic characteristics reaching approximately 103 cm2 V-1 s-1, with an intrinsic power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.96%. Our results show that the PCE can be increased to 17.24% when the conduction band offset between BP and SnSe is reduced by strain engineering. The distinctive and favorable properties suggest that the BP/SnSe vdW heterostructure has great potential for use in photovoltaic devices.

Light-modulated transparent memristors combining photoresponse and data storage are promising as multifunctional devices. Herein, a multicolor light-modulated transparent memristor based on black phosphorous (BP) is designed, fabricated, and investigated. BP is a class of emerging two-dimensional (2D) materials with a natural direct band gap and a broad light absorption. Herein, BP nanosheets (BP@PS NSs) coated with polystyrene (PS) are prepared and serve as the resistive switching (RS) layer in the ITO/BP@PS/ITO memristor, which shows >75% transmittance between 350 and 1100 nm. With the aid of PS, the BP@PS-based memristor has excellent RS characteristics such as no initial preforming, low operating voltage, and long retention time. According to the energy band model, the RS mechanism of the high and low resistance states contributes to the transformation from ohmic contact to Schottky contact. During light illumination ranging from ultraviolet (380 nm) to near infrared (785 nm), the Schottky barrier height is elevated further so that the resetting voltages and power consumption decrease. Moreover, the ON/OFF ratios are improved and the maximum enhancement is demonstrated to be more than 10 times. BP is a promising RS material in light-modulated memristors, and the novel device configuration provides insights into the development of multifunctional microelectronic devices based on 2D materials.

Plasma functionalization can increase the efficiency of MoSe 2 in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by providing multiple species but the interactions between the plasma and catalyst are not well understood. In this work, the effects of the ion energy and plasma density on the catalytic properties of MoSe 2 nanosheets are studied. The through-holes resulting from plasma etching and multi-vacancies induced by plasma-induced damage enhance the HER efficiency as exemplified by a small overpotential of 148 mV at 10 mA cm -2 and Tafel slope of 51.6 mV dec -1 after the plasma treatment using a power of 20 W. The interactions between the plasma and catalyst during etching and vacancies generation are evaluated by plasma simulation. Finite element and first-principles density functional theory calculations are also conducted and the results are consistent with the experimental results, indicating that the improved HER catalytic activity stems from the enhanced electric field and more active sites on the catalyst, and reduced bandgap and adsorption energy arising from the etched through-holes and vacancies, respectively. The results convey new fundamental knowledge about the plasma effects and means to enhance the efficiency of catalysts in water splitting as well insights into the design of high-performance HER catalysts., (© 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The photochemical activity of black phosphorus (BP) in near-infrared (NIR) light controlled in situ biomineralization is investigated. Owing to the excellent NIR absorption, irradiation with NIR light not only promotes degradation of BP into PO 4 3- , but also enhances the chemical activity to accelerate the reaction between PO 4 3- and Ca 2+ and promote in situ biomineralization. Mineralization of hydrogels is demonstrated by the preparation of BP incorporated hydrogel (BP@Hydrogel) which delivers greatly improved biomineralization performance under NIR illumination. The biomineralization process which can be controlled by modulating the light irradiation time and location has a high potential in controlling the mechanical properties and osteoinductive ability in tissue engineering. This study also provides insights into the degradation, photochemical activity, and new biological/biomedical applications of BP., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Development of efficient electrocatalysts combining the features of low cost and high performance for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) still remains a critical challenge. Here, we proposed a facile strategy to construct in situ a novel hierarchical heterostructure composed of 0D-2D CoSe 2 /MoSe 2 by the selenization of CoMoO 4 nanosheets grafted on a carbon cloth (CC). In such integrated structure, CoSe 2 nanoparticles dispersed well and tightly bonded with MoSe 2 nanosheets, which can not only enhance kinetics due to the synergetic effects, thus promoting the electrocatalytic activity, but also effectively improve the structural stability. Benefiting from its unique architecture, the designed CoSe 2 /MoSe 2 catalyst exhibits superior OER and HER performance. Specifically, a small overpotential of 280 mV is acquired at a current density of 10 mA·cm -2 for OER with a small Tafel slope of 86.8 mV·dec -1 , and the overpotential is 90 mV at a current density of 10 mA·cm -2 for HER with a Tafel slope of 84.8 mV·dec -1 in 1 M KOH. Furthermore, the symmetrical electrolyzer assembled with the CoSe 2 /MoSe 2 catalysts depicts a small cell voltage of 1.63 V at 10 mA·cm -2 toward overall water splitting., (Copyright © 2020 Xia, Song, Li, Zhang, Gao, Zheng, Huo and Chu.)

GeSn offers a reduced bandgap than Ge and has been utilized in Si-based infrared photodetectors with an extended cutoff wavelength. However, the traditional GeSn/Ge heterostructure usually consists of defects like misfit dislocations due to the lattice mismatch issue. The defects with the large feature size of a photodetector fabricated on bulk GeSn/Ge heterostructures induce a considerable dark current. Here, we demonstrate a flexible GeSn/Ge dual-nanowire (NW) structure, in which the strain relaxation is achieved by the elastic deformation without introducing defects, and the feature dimension is naturally at the nanoscale. A photodetector with a low dark current can be built on a GeSn/Ge dual-NW, which exhibits an extended detection wavelength beyond 2 μm and enhanced responsivity compared to the Ge NW. Moreover, the dark current can be further suppressed by the depletion effect from the ferroelectric polymer side gate. Our work suggests the flexible GeSn/Ge dual-NW may open an avenue for Si-compatible optoelectronic circuits operating in the short-wavelength infrared range.

As a new type of energy-storage devices, lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are designed to deliver high energy densities, high power densities, and long lifespan by integrating the battery-type anodes and capacitor-type cathodes. Achieving high energy and power density simultaneously is the challenge of LICs, which is mainly determined by the cathode and anode materials. In this mini-review, basing on the working principles of LICs, we discuss the categories and electrochemical performance as well as the matching strategies of the cathodes and anodes. In anodes, we focus on summarizing the structural design of the prelithiation transition-metal compounds based materials. In cathodes, we emphasize discussing the fabrication and morphology adjustment of the low dimensional carbon materials. Finally, the prospects and challenges confronting future research and development of LICs are provided.

During pulsed laser welding of AZ 31B magnesium (Mg) alloy and T2 pure copper (Cu), Cu 2 Mg and Mg 2 Cu are generated, but the bonding ability of the two compounds is usually weak, resulting in low strength. In order to improve the joint of two dissimilar metals, a zinc interlayer was inserted between the Mg alloy and Cu, and the effects of the thickness of the Zn interlayer on the microstructure and properties of the joint were studied. The fused zone consisted of Cu 2 Mg and MgZn, and, according to first-principles calculation, in the same energy range, the area enclosed by the density of the state curve of MgZn was larger than that of Cu 2 Mg. Hence, the bonding ability of MgZn was better than that of Cu 2 Mg, and MgZn improved the strength of the welded joint. The most advantageous thickness of the Zn interlayer was 0.1 mm, and the shear strength was 48.15 MPa that was 161% higher than that of the directly welded Mg/Cu joint.

Three-dimensional graphene (3D-Gr) with excellent light absorption properties has received enormous interest, but in conventional processes to prepare 3D-Gr, amorphous carbon layers are inevitably introduced as buffer layers that may degrade the performance of graphene-based devices. Herein, 3D-Gr is prepared on germanium (Ge) using two-dimensional graphene (2D-Gr) as the buffer layer. 2D-Gr as the buffer layer facilitates the in situ synthesis of 3D-Gr on Ge by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) by promoting 2D-Gr nucleation and reducing the barrier height. The growth mechanism is investigated and described. The enhanced light absorption as confirmed by theoretical calculation and 3D-Gr/2D-Gr/Ge with a Schottky junction improves the performance of optoelectronic devices without requiring pre- and post-transfer processes. The photodetector constructed with 3D-Gr/2D-Gr/Ge shows an excellent responsivity of 1.7 A W -1 and detectivity 3.42 × 10 14 cm Hz 1/2 W -1 at a wavelength of 1550 nm. This novel hybrid structure that incorporates 3D- and 2D-Gr into Ge-based integrated circuits and photodetectors delivers excellent performance and has large commercial potential.

Cytomembrane-derived nanoplatforms are an effective biomimetic strategy in cancer therapy. To improve their functionality and expandability for enhanced vaccination, a eukaryotic-prokaryotic vesicle (EPV) nanoplatform is designed and constructed by fusing melanoma cytomembrane vesicles (CMVs) and attenuated Salmonella outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). Inheriting the virtues of the parent components, the EPV integrates melanoma antigens with natural adjuvants for robust immunotherapy and can be readily functionalized with complementary therapeutics. In vivo prophylactic testing reveals that the EPV nanoformulation can be utilized as a prevention vaccine to stimulate the immune system and trigger the antitumor immune response, combating tumorigenesis. In the melanoma model, the poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-indocyanine green (ICG) moiety (PI)-implanted EPV (PI@EPV) in conjunction with localized photothermal therapy with durable immune inhibition shows synergetic antitumor effects as a therapeutic vaccine. The eukaryotic-prokaryotic fusion strategy provides new perspectives for the design of tumor-immunogenic, self-adjuvanting, and expandable vaccine platforms., (© 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The poor adhesion of anodic TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTs) arrays on titanium (Ti) substrates adversely affects applications in many fields especially biomedical engineering. Herein, an efficient strategy is described to improve the adhesion strength of TNTs by performing grain refinement in the underlying Ti substrate via high-pressure torsion processing, as a larger number of grain boundaries can provide more interfacial mechanical anchorage. This process also improves the biocompatibility and osseointegration of TNTs by increasing the surface elastic modulus. The TNTs in length of 0.4 µm have significantly larger adhesion strength than the 2.0 µm long ones because the shorter TNTs experience less interfacial internal stress. However, post-anodization annealing reduces the fluorine concentration in TNTs and adhesion strength due to the formation of interfacial cavities during crystallization. The interfacial structure of TNTs/Ti system and the mechanism of adhesion failures are further investigated and discussed. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Self-assembled TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTs) prepared by electrochemical anodization have a distinct morphology and superior properties, which are commonly used in photocatalytic systems, electronic devices, solar cells, sensors, as well as biomedical implants. However, the poor adhesion between the TNTs and Ti substrate has hampered wider applications. Here in this study, we describe an efficient strategy to improve the adhesion strength of TNTs by performing grain refinement in the underlying Ti substrate via high-pressure torsion (HPT) processing. The interfacial structure of TNTs/Ti system and the mechanism of adhesion failure are systematically studied and discussed. Our findings not only develop the knowledge of TNTs/Ti system, but also provide new insights into the design of Ti-based implants for orthopedic applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Inspired by the promising applications in thermopower generation from waste heat and active on-chip cooling, the thermoelectric and electrothermal properties of graphene have been extensively pursued by seeking ingeniously designed structures with thermoelectric conversion capability. The graphene wrinkle is a ubiquitous structure formed inevitably during the synthesis of large-scale graphene films but the corresponding properties for thermoelectric and electrothermal applications are rarely investigated. Here, the electrothermal Peltier effect from the graphene wrinkle fabricated on a germanium substrate is reported. Peltier cooling and heating across the wrinkle are visualized unambiguously with polarities consistent with p-type doping and in accordance with the wrinkle spatial distribution. By direct patterning of the nano-bubble structure, the current density across the wrinkle can be boosted by current crowding to enhance the Peltier effect. The observed Peltier effect can be attributed to the nonequilibrium charge transport by interlayer tunneling across the van der Waals barrier of the graphene wrinkle. The graphene wrinkle in combination with nano-bubble engineering constitutes an innovative and agile platform to design graphene and other more general two-dimensional (2D) thermoelectrics and opens the possibility for realizing active on-chip cooling for 2D nanoelectronics with van der Waals junctions., (© 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Background and Purpose : Although inorganic nanomaterials have been widely used in multimodal cancer therapies, the intrinsic contributions of the materials are not well understood and sometimes underestimated. In this work, bioactive phospho-therapy with black phosphorus nanosheets (BPs) for in vivo tumor suppression is studied. Methods : Orthotopic liver tumor and acute myeloid leukemia are chosen as the models for the solid tumor and hematological tumor, respectively. BPs are injected into mice through the tail vein and tumor growth is monitored by IVIS bioluminescence imaging. Tumor tissues and serum samples are collected to determine the suppression effect and biosafety of BPs after treatment. Results : The in vitro studies show that BPs with high intracellular uptake produce apoptosis- and autophagy-mediated programmed cell death of human liver carcinoma cells but do not affect normal cells. BPs passively accumulate in the tumor site at a high concentration and inhibit tumor growth. The tumor weight is much less than that observed from the doxorubicin (DOX)-treated group. The average survival time is extended by at least two months and the survival rate is 100% after 120 days. Western bolt analysis confirms that BPs suppress carcinoma growth via the apoptosis and autophagy pathways. In addition, administration of BPs into mice suffering from leukemia results in tumor suppression and long survival. Conclusions : This study reveals that BPs constitute a type of bioactive anti-cancer agents and provides insights into the application of inorganic nanomaterials to cancer therapy., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (© The author(s).)

On the heels of exacerbating environmental concerns and ever-growing global energy demand, development of high-performance renewable energy-storage and -conversion devices has aroused great interest. The electrode materials, which are the critical components in electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices, largely determine the energy-storage properties, and the development of suitable active electrode materials is crucial to achieve efficient and environmentally friendly EES technologies albeit the challenges. Two-dimensional transition-metal chalcogenides (2D TMDs) are promising electrode materials in alkali metal ion batteries and supercapacitors because of ample interlayer space, large specific surface areas, fast ion-transfer kinetics, and large theoretical capacities achieved through intercalation and conversion reactions. However, they generally suffer from low electronic conductivities as well as substantial volume change and irreversible side reactions during the charge/discharge process, which result in poor cycling stability, poor rate performance, and low round-trip efficiency. In this Review, recent advances of 2D TMDs-based electrode materials for alkali metal-ion energy-storage devices with the focus on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), potassium-ion batteries (PIBs), high-energy lithium-sulfur (Li-S), and lithium-air (Li-O 2 ) batteries are described. The challenges and future directions of 2D TMDs-based electrode materials for high-performance LIBs, SIBs, PIBs, Li-S, and Li-O 2 batteries as well as emerging alkali metal-ion capacitors are also discussed., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Incorporating metal elements into polymers is a feasible means to fabricate new materials with multiple functionalities. In this work, a metal coordinated cationic polymer (MCCP) was developed. Ferric ions were incorporated into the polyethyleneimine-β-cyclodextrin (PC) polymer chain via coordination to produce a zipped-up polymer with a micro-ordered and macro-disordered topological structure. By varying the metal concentration, a tunable superstructure could be formed on the nano-templates via the "zipping" effect. In addition, the physicochemical properties of the assembly of MCCPs and nucleic acids were tailored by tuning the composition of the metal ions and polymers. The loading efficiency of Rhodamine-B by MCCPs was enhanced. The in vitro and in vivo results showed that the hybrid materials could be adjusted to deliver nucleic acids or small molecules with good performance and acquired the capacity of generating reactive oxygen species in tumor cells. Thus, the tunable and multifunctional MCCP system has great potential in nanomedicine and biomaterial science.

Development of efficient catalysts for ammonia production under ambient conditions is a challenge. In this work, edge-rich black phosphorus nanoflakes (eBP NFs) are synthesized for highly efficient photocatalytic nitrogen fixation. The eBP NFs synthesized by a chemical etching exfoliation method have a uniform size and about 90 nm wide and the flake-like structure is enshrouded with crystal-domain edges. Without using any cocatalysts, the eBP NFs catalyze nitrogen fixation at a rate of 2.37 mmol·h -1 ·g -1 under visible-light irradiation. The photocatalytic process is analyzed by photoelectrochemical and transient absorption measurements, which disclose electron transfer from eBP NFs to N 2 for subsequent hydrogenation. Besides the facile and scalable synthesis method, eBP NFs with a high photocatalytic nitrogen fixation efficiency have great potential in ammonia production.

The adverse macrophage-mediated immune response elicited by the surface of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is responsible for the formation of fibrous encapsulation and resulting inferior osseointegration of PEEK implants in the dental and orthopedic fields. Therefore, endowing the PEEK surface with immunomodulatory ability is an appealing strategy to enhance implant-bone integration. Herein, a reliable and cost-effective method to construct adherent films with tunable nanoporous structures on PEEK is described. The functionalized surface not only suppresses the acute inflammatory response of macrophages, but also provides a favorable milieu for osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs). Whole genome expression analysis reveals that the suppression effect arises from synergistic inhibition of focal adhesion, Toll-like receptor, and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways, as well as the attenuating loop through the JAK-STAT and TNF signaling pathways in macrophages. Further in vivo studies confirm that the functionalized surface induces less fibrous capsule formation and an improved bone regeneration. The nanoporous films fabricated on PEEK harmonize the early macrophage-mediated inflammatory response and subsequent hBMSCs-centered osteogenic functions consequently yielding superior osseointegration., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A recyclable photoelectrode with high degradation capability for organic pollutants is crucial for environmental protection and, in this work, a novel CeO 2 quantum dot (QDs)/Ag 2 Se Z-scheme photoelectrode boasting increased visible light absorption and fast separation and transfer of photo-induced carriers is prepared and demonstrated. A higher voltage increases the photocurrent and 95.8% of tetracycline (TC) is degraded by 10% CeO 2 QDs/Ag 2 Se in 75 minutes. The degradation rate is superior to that achieved by photocatalysis (92.3% of TC in 90 min) or electrocatalysis (27.7% of TC in 90 min). Oxygen vacancies on the CeO 2 QDs advance the separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers at the interfacial region. Free radical capture tests demonstrate that •O 2 - , •OH, and h + are the principal active substances and, by also considering the bandgaps of CeO 2 QDs and Ag 2 Se, the photocatalytic mechanism of CeO 2 QDs/Ag 2 Se abides by the Z-scheme rather than the traditional heterojunction scheme. A small amount of metallic Ag formed in the photocatalysis process can form a high-speed charge transfer nano channel, which can greatly inhibit the photogenerated carrier recombination, improve the photocatalytic performance, and help form a steady Z-scheme photocatalysis system. This study would lay a foundation for the design of a Z-scheme solar photocatalytic system.

Metal oxides with a polar surface interact strongly with polar NO 2 molecules, thus facilitating sensitive detection of NO 2 . In this work, the composites comprising graphene and cubic CeO 2 nanoparticles with the {100} polar surface are prepared by a hydrothermal technique, and they exhibit fast response, excellent selectivity, stable recovery, and sensitive detection with a low detection limitation of 1 ppm for NO 2 at room temperature. According to the first-principle calculations, the adsorption energy of NO 2 on the CeO 2 {100} polar surface is the most negative corresponding to the strongest interactions between them. The formation energy of oxygen vacancies (O v ) on the {100} polar plane is also negative, and the abundant O v facilitates the adsorption of NO 2 . The internal electric field near the polar surface promotes the charge separation and accelerates the charge exchange between NO 2 and the composites. In addition, graphene promotes electron transfer at the interface and improves the stability of the CeO 2 {100} polar surface. The composites of graphene and metal oxides with a polar surface are excellent for NO 2 detection, and the discovery reveals a new sensing strategy.

MoSe 2 is an efficient catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and can potentially replace conventional catalysts composed of noble metals such as Pt. The HER activity of MoSe 2 originates mainly from the edge sites of Se atoms, but the low concentration of Se exposed to the electrolyte hampers the performance. Hence, activating a larger portion of the basal plane of Se atoms is an effective way to improve the HER properties. Herein, a 3D hierarchic nanoflower structure comprising MoSe 2 with atomic-scale interlayered graphene layers in the nanosheets is designed and prepared to improve the electron conductivity and decrease the proportions of inactive basal planes. Raman scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy verify effective insertion of graphene layers in MoSe 2 , and the HER characteristics are improved as exemplified by a small overpotential of 175 mV at 10 mA cm -2 , small Tafel slope of 58 mV dec -1 , and excellent durability with only small deterioration of 10 mV after 10,000 cycles. First-principles density functional theory and finite element method calculations corroborate the experimental results, revealing better conductivity and hydrogen adsorption/desorption ability rendered by the graphene layers. Our results reveal a new and effective strategy to optimize the structure and composition and reduce the hydrogen adsorption energy barrier in the pursuit of high-efficiency non-noble metal catalysts.

Rational design and convenient preparation of freestanding, hierarchical, and porous composites consisting of three-dimensional (3D) conductive carbon and low-dimension nanostructures with well-defined morphology and direct application as electrodes in rechargeable batteries are challenging. Herein, a freestanding, hierarchical, and porous composite composed of bilayered Na x V 2 O 5 · n H 2 O(NVO) nanobelts, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with a 3D cross-linked structure is prepared by simple one-pot hydrothermal self-assembly and vacuum filtration. The unique hierarchical nanoarchitecture of the hybrid one-dimensional (1D) (NVO nanobelts) and 3D (rGO/CNT) scaffold provides efficient pathways for ion/electron transportation as well as an elastic medium to buffer large volume change of the bilayered NVO nanobelts during cycling. The materials have excellent electrochemical properties as cathodes in the nonaqueous K-ion batteries (KIBs) and aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). In the nonaqueous KIBs, the freestanding composite exhibits a high capacity of 119.9 mA h g -1 at 0.1 A g -1 , a rate capability of 53.2 mA h g -1 at 3 A g -1 , and a superior cycling stability of 59.7 mA h g -1 at 0.5 mA g -1 after 600 cycles. In the AZIBs, a capacity of 459.1 mA h g -1 at 0.5 A g -1 , a rate capability of 352.5 mA h g -1 at 10 A g -1 , and 83.1% retention after 1800 cycles at 10 A g -1 are observed. Our results reveal the advantages of the 3D rGO/CNT platform for 1D vanadium-based oxide nanostructures and provide insights into the design and preparation of efficient cathode materials in high-performance AZIBs and nonaqueous KIBs.

Growing evidence suggests that the physical microenvironment can guide cell fate. However, cells sense cues from the adjacent physical microenvironment over a limited distance. In the present study, murine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and murine preosteoblastic cells (MC3T3-E1) behaviors are regulated by the cell-material interface using ordered-micro and disordered-nano patterned structures on Ti implants. The optimal bone formation structure is a stable wave (horizontal direction: ridge, 2.7 µm; grooves, 5.3 µm; and vertical direction: distance, 700 µm) with the appropriate density of nano-branches (6.0 per µm 2 ). The repeated waves provide cells with directional guidance, and the disordered branches influence cell geometry by providing different spacing and density nanostructure. And micro-nano patterned structure can provide biophysical cues to direct cell phenotype development, including cell size, shape, and orientation, to influence cellular processes including survival, growth, and differentiation. Thus, the overlaid isotropic and anisotropic cues, ordered-micro and disordered-nano patterned structures, could transfer further and alter cell shape and induce nuclear orientation by activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling to promote integrin α5, integrin β1, cadherin 2, Runx2, Opn, and Ocn. That canonical Wnt signaling inhibitor dickkopf1 further demonstrates osteogenic differentiation induced by ordered-micro and disordered-nano patterned structures, which is related to Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Our findings show the role of ordered microstructures and disordered nanostructures in modulating stem cell differentiation with potential medical applications. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: It remains a challenge to modify poor osteogenic and osteoconductive properties of titanium alloy bases on the inherent poverty of titanium. We demonstrate that ordered microtopography and disordered nano topography pattern structure could lead to osteogenic differentiation in vitro and bone regeneration in vivo. Furthermore, the pattern structure is created through selective laser melting and alkali heat. And the structure only takes advantage of titanium itself and does not bring in active film, such as hydroxyapatite. On the other hand, we find that cell shape and orientation show angle-orientation tendency due to the polarity, which involves with mechanical signal created via patterned structure. Meanwhile, the Wnt/Ca 2+ signaling pathway is activated., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

As new 2D layered nanomaterials, Bi 2 O 2 Se nanoplates have unique semiconducting properties that can benefit biomedical applications. Herein, a facile top-down approach for the synthesis of Bi 2 O 2 Se quantum dots (QDs) in a solution is described. The Bi 2 O 2 Se QDs with a size of 3.8 nm and thickness of 1.9 nm exhibit a high photothermal conversion coefficient of 35.7% and good photothermal stability. In vitro and in vivo assessments demonstrate that the Bi 2 O 2 Se QDs possess excellent photoacoustic (PA) performance and photothermal therapy (PTT) efficiency. After systemic administration, the Bi 2 O 2 Se QDs accumulate passively in tumors enabling efficient PA imaging of the entire tumors to facilitate imaging-guided PTT without obvious toxicity. Furthermore, the Bi 2 O 2 Se QDs which exhibit degradability in aqueous media not only have sufficient stability during in vivo circulation to perform the designed therapeutic functions, but also can be discharged harmlessly from the body afterward. The results reveal the great potential of Bi 2 O 2 Se QDs as a biodegradable multifunctional agent in medical applications., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Prevention of bacterial infection and promotion of osseointegration are two important issues for titanium (Ti) implants in medical research. In addition, after a biofilm is formed on the surface of implants, the immune system and antibiotic therapy may fail. In this work, bio-functionalized titanium dioxide (TiO 2 )/molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 )/polydopamine (PDA)/arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) nanorod arrays (NAs) are prepared on Ti implants to not only kill bacteria noninvasively upon co-irradiation of 660 nm visible light (VL) and 808 nm near infrared (NIR) light, but also promote the osteogenic activity simultaneously. Dual light irradiation triggers the TiO 2 /MoS 2 NA to generate hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in 10 min. The synergistic effects of the generated hyperthermia and ROS increase the bacterial membrane permeability and bacteria are killed rapidly and efficiently in vitro and in vivo. The biofilm is also eradicated and RGD on the nanorods improves cell adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation. The strategy described here for the design of bio-functionalized coatings on Ti implants has great clinical potential in orthopedics, dentistry, and other medical fields.

Poor buffering capacity of chitosan (CS) results in insufficient intracellular gene release which poses the major barrier in gene delivery. Herein, we reconstructed pristine CS with propylamine (PA), (diethylamino) propylamine (DEAPA), and N, N-dimethyl- dipropylenetriamine (DMAMAPA) to obtain a series of alkylamine-chitosan (AA-CS). The introduction of multiple amino groups with rational ratios functionally enhance the buffering capacity of AA-CS, among which DMAPAPA-CS showed buffering capacity of 1.58 times that of chitosan. The reconstructed AA-CS functionally enhance the ability of gene binding and endosomal escape. It was observed that the DMAPAPA-CS/pDNA complexes exhibit a notable gene delivery efficiency, which promotes the functionalization of loaded pDNA. Importantly, the in vivo delivery assay reveals that the deep penetration issue can be resolved using DMAPAPA-CS gene delivery vector. Finally, the DMAPAPA-CS is applied to deliver the therapeutic p53 gene in A549 bearing mice, showing efficient therapeutic potential for cancer., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Scalable synthesis of few-layered phosphorene typically relies on liquid ultrasonic/shear exfoliation but this technique suffers from drawbacks such as the long processing time, small sheet size, and poor quality. Herein, a simple and efficient plasma-liquid technique for rapid (∼5 minutes) and scalable production of few-layered high-quality phosphorene has been described. The plasma-exfoliated phosphorene has a tunable thickness less than 10 nanometers and a large size over a micrometer, enabling the fabrication of a macroscopic photodetection device with good photo-response. This plasma-exfoliation method has large potential in the development of phosphorene-related technologies as well as mass production of two-dimensional materials.

Modulation of the electronic structure of metal catalysts is an effective approach to optimize the electrocatalytic activity. Herein, we show a surprisingly strong activation effect of black phosphorus (BP) on platinum (Pt) catalysts to give greatly enhanced catalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The unique and negative binding energy between BP and Pt leads to spontaneous formation of Pt-P bonds producing strong synergistic ligand effects on the Pt nanoparticles. No Pt-P bonds are formed with red phosphorus which is another allotrope of P. By controlling the number of Pt-P bonds, 3.5-fold enhancement in the HER activity can be achieved from the BP-activated Pt catalyst and the activity is 6.1 times higher than that of the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C catalyst. The BP-activated Pt catalyst exhibits a current density of 82.89 mA cm -2 with only 1 μg of Pt in 1 m KOH at an overpotential of 70 mV., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Hydrophobic/superhydrophobic materials with intrinsic water repellence are highly desirable in engineering fields including anti-icing in aerocrafts, antidrag and anticorrosion in ships, and antifog and self-cleaning in optical lenses, screen, mirrors, and windows. However, superhydrophobic material should have small surface energy (SE) and a micro/nanosurface structure which can reduce solid-liquid contact significantly. The low SE is generally found in organic materials with inferior mechanical properties that is undesirable in engineering. Intriguingly, previous theoretical calculations have predicted a negative SE for θ -alumina ( θ -Al 2 O 3 ), which inspires us to use it as a superhydrophobic material. Here, we report the experimental evidence of the small/negative SE of θ -Al 2 O 3 and a θ -Al 2 O 3 -based superhydrophobic coating prepared by one-step scalable plasma arcing oxidation. The superhydrophobic coating has complete ceramic and desired micro/nanostructure and therefore exhibits excellent aging resistance, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and burning resistance. Owing to the rarity of the small/negative SE in inorganic materials, the concept to reduce SE by θ -Al 2 O 3 may foster a blowout to develop robust superhydrophobicity by complete inorganic materials., Competing Interests: The authors declared no competing interests., (Copyright © 2019 Zhongzhen Wu et al.)

High-performance and earth-abundant NiFeP is an excellent bifunctional catalyst for water splitting in acidic and alkaline environments, and NiFeP nanoflakes on CoP layer composite with a conductive carbon cloth (CC) substrate as the trunk-leaf flexible structure (NiFeP/CoP/CC) is prepared by direct high-temperature phosphorization. Overpotentials of only 96.38 and 78.80 mV are required in hydrogen evolution reaction in 1 M KOH and 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 , respectively, to generate an electrocatalytic current density of 10 mA cm -2 . A small Tafel slope of 70.67 and 63.21 mV per decade are also observed from NiFeP/CoP/CC revealing a Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism in both media. The electrocatalyst also delivers excellent oxygen evolution reaction performance in the alkaline environment and long-term electrochemical durability for at least 24 h in electrolytes over a wide pH range. A device is assembled with two identical flexible ultrathin NiFeP/CoP/CC as both the anode and cathode in 1 M KOH driven by a set of 1.6 V solar cells. During 32 h of electrolysis, the results show that the current of our electrodes maintains 80% performance at a constant voltage of 1.7 V for 32 h, and the NiFeP/CoP/CC anodes and cathodes have large potential in industrial alkaline water splitting.

Magnesium biometals exhibit great potentials for orthopeadic applications owing to their biodegradability, bioactive effects and satisfactory mechanical properties. However, rapid corrosion of Mg implants in vivo combined with large amount of hydrogen gas evolution is harmful to bone healing process which seriously confines their clinical applications. Enlightened by the superior biocompatibility and corrosion resistance of passive titanium oxide layer automatically formed on titanium alloy, we employ the Ti and O dual plasma ion immersion implantation (PIII) technique to construct a multifunctional TiO 2 based nano-layer on ZK60 magnesium substrates for enhanced corrosion resistance, osteoconductivity and antimicrobial activity. The constructed nano-layer (TiO 2 /MgO) can effectively suppress degradation rate of ZK60 substrates in vitro and still maintain 94% implant volume after post-surgery eight weeks. In animal study, a large amount of bony tissue with increased bone mineral density and trabecular thickness is formed around the PIII treated group in post-operation eight weeks. Moreover, the newly formed bone in the PIII treated group is well mineralized and its mechanical property almost restores to the level of that of surrounding mature bone. Surprisingly, a remarkable killing ratio of 99.31% against S. aureus can be found on the PIII treated sample under ultra-violet (UV) irradiation which mainly attributes to the oxidative stress induced by the reactive oxygen species (ROS). We believe that this multifunctional TiO 2 based nano-layer not only controls the degradation of magnesium implant, but also regulates its implant-to-bone integration effectively. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Rapid corrosion of magnesium implants is the major issue for orthopaedic applications. Inspired by the biocompatibility and corrosion resistance of passive titanium oxide layer automatically formed on titanium alloy, we construct a multifunctional TiO 2 /MgO nanolayer on magnesium substrates to simultaneously achieve superior corrosion resistance, satisfactory osteoconductivity in rat intramedullary bone defect model and excellent antimicrobial activity against S. aureus under UV irradiation. The current findings suggest that the specific TiO 2 /MgO nano-layer on magnesium surface can achieve the three objectives aforementioned and we believe this study can demonstrate the potential of biodegradable metals for future clinical applications., (Copyright © 2019 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Economical and highly effective catalysts are crucial to the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and few-layer black phosphorus (phosphorene) is a promising candidate because of the high carrier mobility, large specific surface area, and tunable physicochemical characteristics. However, the HER activity of phosphorene is limited by the weak hydrogen adsorption ability on the basal plane. In this work, optimal active sites are created to modulate the electronic structure of phosphorene to improve the HER activity and the effectiveness is investigated theoretically by density-functional theory calculation and verified experimentally. The edges and defects affect the electronic density of states, and a linear relationship between the HER activity and lowest unoccupied states (ε LUS ) is discovered. The medium ε LUS value corresponds to the suitable hydrogen adsorption strength. Experiments are designed and performed to verify the prediction, and our results show that a smaller phosphorene moiety with more edges and defects exhibits better HER activity and surface doping with metal adatoms improves the catalytic performance. The results suggest that modified phosphorene has large potential in efficient HER and provides a convenient standard to explore ideal electrocatalysts.

The optical properties of symmetric split-ring/ring dimer (SRRD) nanostructures composed of a small nanoring surrounded by an Ag splitting nanoring with a larger diameter are calculated theoretically. The apparent asymmetric Fano line shape in the spectra is related to fast switching of the bonding modes between the split-ring plasmon and ring dipole. The influence of the dimensions of the SRRD nanostructures on the spectral positions and intensity of Fano resonance is studied, and the asymmetric Fano line shape can be flexibly adjusted by varying the geometric parameters. In addition, relatively simple SRRD nanostructures have the same overall sensing figures of merit as conventional nanoparticles, thus rendering them suitable for high-performance optical sensors.

Rapid corrosion of biodegradable magnesium alloys under in vivo condition is a major concern for clinical applications. Inspired by the stability and biocompatibility of titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) passive layer, a functionalized TiO 2 /Mg 2 TiO 4 nano-layer has been constructed on the surface of WE43 magnesium implant by using plasma ion immersion implantation (PIII) technique. The customized nano-layer not only enhances corrosion resistance of Mg substrates significantly, but also elevates the osteoblastic differentiation capability in vitro due to the controlled release of magnesium ions. In the animal study, the increase of new bone formation adjacent to the PIII-treated magnesium substrate is 175% higher at post-operation 12 weeks, whereas the growth of new bone on titanium control and untreated magnesium substrate are only 97% and 29%, respectively. In addition, its Young's modulus can be restored to about 82% as compared with the surrounding matured bone. Furthermore, this specific TiO 2 /Mg 2 TiO 4 layer even exhibits photoactive bacteria disinfection capability when irradiated by ultraviolet light which is attributed to the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. With all these constructive observations, it is believed that the TiO 2 /Mg 2 TiO 4 nano-layer on magnesium implants can significantly promote new bone formation and suppress bacterial infection, while the degradation behavior can be controlled simultaneously., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In bone implants, antibacterial biomaterials with nonleaching surfaces are superior to ones based on abrupt release because systemic side effects arising from the latter can be avoided. In this work, a nonleaching antibacterial concept is demonstrated by fabricating 2D nanoflakes in situ on magnesium (Mg). Different from the conventional antibacterial mechanisms that depend on Mg 2+ release and pH increase, the nanoflakes exert mechanical tension onto the bacteria membranes to destroy microorganisms on contact and produce intracellular stress via physical interactions, which is also revealed by computational simulations. Moreover, the nanoflake layer decelerates the corrosion process resulting in mitigated Mg 2+ release, weaker alkalinity in the vicinity, and less hydrogen evolution, in turn inducing less inflammatory reactions and ensuring the biocompatibility as confirmed by the in vivo study. In this way, bacteria are killed by a mechanical process causing very little side effects. This work provides information and insights pertaining to the design of multifunctional biomaterials., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

We report a novel metal-corrosion route beyond traditional top-down or bottom-up strategies for the mass production of 2D TMOs with a self-supported structure. The self-supported 2D Co 3 O 4 , a typical TMO, exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability in the oxygen evolution reaction surpassing those of commercial precious metal RuO 2 catalysts at high currents.

A reliable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate composed of two-dimensional (2D) MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) nanosheets and gold nanorods (AuNRs) is designed and fabricated for sensitive detection of organic pollutants. The AuNRs are uniformly distributed on the surface of the 2D MXene nanosheets because of the strong electrostatic interactions, forming abundant SERS hot spots. The MXene/AuNR SERS substrate exhibits high sensitivity and excellent reproducibility in the determination of common organic dyes such as rhodamine 6G, crystal violet, and malachite green. The detection limits are 1 × 10 -12 , 1 × 10 -12 , and 1 × 10 -10 M, and relative standard deviations determined from 13 areas on each sample are 18.1, 10.1, and 15.6%, respectively. In the determination of more complex organic pesticides and pollutants, the substrate also shows excellent sensitivity and quantitative detection, and the detection limits for thiram and diquat of 1 × 10 -10 and 1 × 10 -8 M, respectively, are much lower than the contaminant levels stipulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The MXene/AuNR composite constitutes an efficient SERS platform for reliable and high-sensitivity environmental analysis and food safety monitoring.

Lithium (Li) metal is one of the promising anode materials in the next-generation high-energy batteries, but Li dendrite growth and a big volume change during cycling result in low Coulombic efficiency (CE), short lifespan, and safety hazards, thereby impeding practical implementation of Li in rechargeable batteries. Herein, we report a highly stable and dendrite-free Li metal anode based on a three-dimensional (3D) conductive and lithiophilic scaffold comprising lithiated NiCo 2 O 4 nanorods grown on nickel foam (LNCO/Ni). The nanorods grown on 3D Ni foam with a large surface area effectively reduce the averaged electrical current in the electrode, and the conformal Li 2 O coating produced in situ on the lithiated NiCo 2 O 4 nanorods provides the surface lithiophilicity enabling stable Li plating/stripping without Li dendrite growth even at a high current density of 5 mA cm -2 . The LNCO/Ni-Li anode shows a low voltage hysteresis of 16 mV, high CE of 98.7%, and stable cycling without obvious voltage fluctuation for over 500 cycles (1000 h) at a current density of 1 mA cm -2 . Specifically, for a scalable Li loading of 20 mA h cm -2 on LNCO/Ni, no growth of Li dendrite and electrode thickness fluctuations are observed. The full cell consisting of the LNCO/Ni-Li anode and the LiFePO 4 cathode exhibits a high rate capability and CE as high as 99.6% for more than 160 cycles. Our study reveals a new strategy to develop stable Li-metal anodes for high-energy batteries.

Many postsurgical complications stem from bacteria colony formation on the surface of implants, but the usage of antibiotic agents may cause antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, there is a strong demand for biocompatible materials with an intrinsic antibacterial resistance not requiring extraneous chemical agents. In this study, homogeneous nanocones were fabricated by oxygen plasma etching on the surface of natural, biocompatible Bombyx mori silk films. The new hydroxyl bonds formed on the surface of the nanopatterned film by plasma etching increased the surface energy by around 176%. This hydrophilic nanostructure reduced the bacterial attachment by more than 90% for both Gram-negative ( Escherichia coli ) and Gram-positive ( Staphylococcus aureus ) bacteria and at the same time improved the proliferation of osteoblast cells by 30%. The nanoengineered substrate and pristine silk were cultured for 6 h with three different bacteria concentrations of 10 7 , 10 5 , and 10 3 CFU mL -1 and the cell proliferation on the nanopatterned samples was significantly higher due to limited bacteria attachment and prevention of biofilm formation. The concept and materials described here reveal a promising alternative to produce biomaterials with an inherent biocompatibility and bacterial resistance simultaneously to mitigate postsurgical infections and minimize the use of antibiotics.

A sensing device composed of an eccentric core photonic quasi-crystal fiber based on surface plasmon resonance is designed using indium tin oxide (ITO) as the sensitive materials. The ITO film is deposited on the outside surface of the fiber to excite plasmonic interactions and facilitate refractive index (RI) detection. This eccentric core structure makes the evanescent field coupled effectively with analyte to achieve higher sensitivity. The influence of RI and structural parameters of different analytes on sensor performance was calculated by the finite-element method. In the analyte RI range between 1.33 and 1.39, the wavelength sensitivity reaches 21,100 nm/RIU, and the average sensitivity of 8750 nm/RIU is achieved at a resolution of 4.739×10 -6   RIU. The sensor has large potential in the detection of unknown RI analytes in the near-infrared region.