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Ambient energy harvesting has great potential to contribute to sustainable development and address growing environmental challenges. Converting waste energy from energy-intensive processes and systems (e.g. combustion engines and furnaces) is crucial to reducing their environmental impact and achieving net-zero emissions. Compact energy harvesters will also be key to powering the exponentially growing smart devices ecosystem that is part of the Internet of Things, thus enabling futuristic applications that can improve our quality of life (e.g. smart homes, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and smart healthcare). To achieve these goals, innovative materials are needed to efficiently convert ambient energy into electricity through various physical mechanisms, such as the photovoltaic effect, thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and radiofrequency wireless power transfer. By bringing together the perspectives of experts in various types of energy harvesting materials, this Roadmap provides extensive insights into recent advances and present challenges in the field. Additionally, the Roadmap analyses the key performance metrics of these technologies in relation to their ultimate energy conversion limits. Building on these insights, the Roadmap outlines promising directions for future research to fully harness the potential of energy harvesting materials for green energy anytime, anywhere.

Abstract Background Angiogenesis plays an important role in tumor growth and metastasis, therefore antiangiogenic therapy was widely investigated as a promising approach for cancer therapy. Recently, pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) has been shown to be the most potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have been intensively studied due to their wide tropisms, nonpathogenicity, and long-term transgene expression in vivo. The objective of this work was to evaluate the ability of AAV-mediated human PEDF (hPEDF) as a potent tumor suppressor and a potential candidate for cancer gene therapy. Methods Recombinant AAV2 encoding hPEDF (rAAV2-hPEDF) was constructed and produced, and then was assigned for in vitro and in vivo experiments. Conditioned medium from cells infected with rAAV2-hPEDF was used for cell proliferation and tube formation tests of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Subsequently, colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis (CRPC) mouse model was established and treated with rAAV2-hPEDF. Therapeutic efficacy of rAAV2-hPEDF were investigated, including tumor growth and metastasis, survival time, microvessel density (MVD) and apoptosis index of tumor tissues, and hPEDF levels in serum and ascites. Results rAAV2-hPEDF was successfully constructed, and transmission electron microscope (TEM) showed that rAAV2-hPEDF particles were non-enveloped icosahedral shape with a diameter of approximately 20 nm. rAAV2-hPEDF-infected cells expressed hPEDF protein, and the conditioned medium from infected cells inhibited proliferation and tube-formation of HUVECs in vitro. Furthermore, in CRPC mouse model, rAAV2-hPEDF significantly suppressed tumor growth and metastasis, and prolonged survival time of treated mice. Immunofluorescence studies indicated that rAAV2-hPEDF could inhibit angiogenesis and induce apoptosis in tumor tissues. Besides, hPEDF levels in serum and ascites of rAAV2-hPEDF-treated mice were significant higher than those in rAAV2-null or normal saline (NS) groups. Conclusions Thus, our results suggest that rAAV2-hPEDF may be a potential candidate as an antiangiogenic therapy agent.

Aiming at the disadvantages of thick seed coat and difficult cooking of red beans, a red bean product that can be co-cooked with white rice was developed through the pre-cooking technology of "microwave pretreatment-soaking-steaming". Based on the optimization of pre-cooking process by response surface methodology, the appearance, color, pasting properties, texture and re-cooking properties of pre-cooked red beans with different gelatinization degree were characterized. The results showed that the increase of microwave time, microwave power, soaking time and cooking time could significantly increase the gelatinization degree of red bean. Compared with raw red beans, the color of pre-cooked red beans became dark, and the volume expanded several times. The hardness and pasting viscosity of pre-cooked red beans also decreased, but their rehydration increased by 7.5-8.8 times. In addition, there was no white core after re-cooking under simulated cooking conditions of white rice. However, with the increase of gelatinization degree, the red bean granules swelled, and the epidermis seriously ruptured. The sensory score decreased, and the rehydration first increased but then decreased. In summary, the optimal pre-cooking process was determined as: microwave power 640 W, microwave time 30 s, soaking time 6.5 h, cooking time 20 min. Under these conditions, the gelatinization degree of pre-cooked red bean was 57.52%.

Objective: This study focuses on improving the comprehensive utilization rate of Polygonatum cyrtonema. Methods: The contents of total flavonoids, total saponins and total phenols from roots, stems, leaves, flowers and buds, of P. cyrtonema were determined. The scavenging rates of DPPH·, ·OH and nitrites in extracts of above tissue were measured and compared as well. Results: The contents of total flavonoids and total phenols five different kinds of non-medicinal tissue were in the same order, in which from highest to lowest was, leaves, buds, flowers, stems and roots, and the content of total saponins in flower was the highest In terms of antioxidant activity, the DPPH ·, ·OH and nitrite scavenging rate of leaf extract were the highest, followed by buds and flowers. Correlation analysis showed that the clearance of DPPH ·, · OH and nitrite by the extract from different tissue showed a certain positive correlation with the contents of total flavonoids, total saponins and total phenols. Conclusion: The extract of non-medicinal parts of P. cyrtonema has good biological activity.

The rampant dendrites growth caused by uncontrolled deposition of Zn2+ ions at Zn metal anode poses a significant obstacle to the practical applications of aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs). Herein, an ultrathin (5 µm) aramid nanofiber (ANF) separator is reported to enhance the Zn anode stability and the ZIB energy density. Through systematic experimental studies and DFT simulations, it is demonstrated that the ANF separator with unique surface polarity can modify the solvation configuration, facilitate desolvation, and regulate the deposition orientation of Zn2+ ions. Consequently, the Zn anode with the ANF separator demonstrates an 85‐fold increase in running time beyond 850 h compared with the conventional glass fiber separator at 5 mA cm−2/2.5 mAh cm−2. Even under the harsh depth of discharge conditions of 50% and 80%, the Zn anodes still sustain extended cycling periods of over 475 and 200 h, respectively. As pairing this ANF separator with thin Zn anode and high‐areal‐capacity Mn2.5V10O24∙5.9H2O cathode in a low negative capacity/positive capacity ratio (2.64) full cell, superior gravimetric/volumetric energy density (129.2 Wh kg−1/142.5 Wh L−1) is achieved, far surpassing majority of the ZIB counterparts reported in the literature. This work offers a promising ultrathin separator for promoting the utilization of energy‐dense aqueous ZIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND In recent years, copper isotopes have been widely applied in supergene environments and biogeochemical processes, acting as novel tracers for soil pollution and biogeochemical cycles during pedogenesis. To date, Cu isotope studies on natural soils have commonly analyzed basalt geostandards for monitoring data quality. However, the contents of copper, matrix ions, and organic matter in the soil and silicate rock are very different. For example, the copper content in silicate rock is >80μg/g, and the copper content in some soils is very low, that is, < 20μg/g. The use of silicate standard materials as reference samples to monitor the data quality of soil samples lacks representativeness. OBJECTIVES To provide new soil standards for high-precision Cu isotope analysis, this study reports high-precision copper isotope data for four soil reference materials (GBW07443, GBW07425, GBW07427, and GBW07389), expressed as δ65Cu relative to NIST SRM 976, which were measured using a multi-collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS). METHODS Soil samples were completely dissolved in high-pressure bombs in a muffle furnace. Complete separation of Cu from the matrices was obtained using a strong anion exchange resin (AG MP-1M). The instrument mass bias was corrected using the standard sample-standard method. RESULTS The long-term external reproducibility was higher than ±0.05‰ (n=306, 2SD). Cu isotopic compositions of the four soil reference materials, GBW07443, GBW07425, GBW07427, and GBW07389, from the China National Bureau of Standards were -0.04‰±0.04‰ (n=9, 2SD); -0.07‰±0.05‰ (n=12, 2SD); -0.06‰±0.04‰ (n=12, 2SD); and -0.02‰±0.06‰ (n=12, 2SD), respectively. CONCLUSIONS The δ65Cu values of these reference materials were close to zero and corresponded to the intermediate values of natural soils. Moreover, the sample was easy to obtain, and the experimental results showed uniformity in its chemical and copper isotopic compositions, making it suitable as a standard material for monitoring the reliability of the soil copper isotope chemistry and the mass spectrometry data.