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Most patients are at high risk of thrombosis during cancer treatment. However, the major discrepancy in the therapeutic mechanisms and microenvironment between tumors and thrombosis makes it challenging for a panacea to treat cancer while being able to eliminate the risk of thrombosis. Herein, we developed a biomimetic MnOx/Ag

While checkpoint blockade immunotherapy as a promising clinical modality has revolutionized cancer treatment, it is of benefit to only a subset of patients because of the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. Herein, we report that the specified delivery of vitamin C at the tumor site by responsive lipid nanoparticles can efficiently induce oxidative toxicity and the polarization of M1 macrophages, promoting the infiltration of activating cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the tumor microenvironment for intensive immune checkpoint blocking therapy. Both

The second near-infrared (NIR-II)-induced photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years due to its non-invasiveness and because it uses less energy. However, the penetration of photothermal agents into solid tumors is seriously impeded by the dense-tumor extracellular matrix (ECM) containing cross-linked hyaluronic acid (HA), thereby compromising the ultimate therapeutic effects. Herein, acid-labile metal-organic frameworks were employed as nanocarriers to efficiently mineralize hyaluronidase (HAase) and encapsulate Ag

Thermosensitive fluorescent microgels (HMQC-MGs) were developed as selective and sensitive sensing systems for the detection of trace Fe3+ and Mn2+ ions in aqueous solutions. HMQC-MGs, which were s...

Due to the high energy efficiency and a wide range of potential applications in daily life, bistable electrochromic devices (BECDs) have gained extensive attention in recent years. However, poor bistability and slow response rate are the main barriers, which restrict the development of BECDs. Herein, a transparent multidimensional electrode with indium tin oxide (ITO) nanofibers and gold nanoparticles was fabricated to improve both the bistability and responsiveness of devices. Its criss-crossed ITO nanofibers with high length-to-diameter ratios to reduce the distance of heterogeneous electron transfer and its gold nanoparticles to form a stable Au-S bond to avoid self-erasing of electrochromic materials have been demonstrated and discussed systematically. This device based on the transparent multidimensional working electrode had a shorter response time (1/5) and a longer bistability (12/1) compared with the prototype devices based on common fluorine-doped tin oxide electrodes. Besides, this device had a promising electrochromic performance with a high coloration efficiency of 448.27 cm2/C and a switching stability with no significant attenuation after 1200 cycles.

Visible-light-driven CO2 reduction to valuable chemicals without sacrificial agents and cocatalysts remains challenging, especially for metal-free photocatalytic systems. Herein, a novel donor-acceptor (D-A) covalent organic framework (CT-COF) was constructed by the Schiff-base reaction of carbazole-triazine based D-A monomers and possessed a suitable energy band structure, strong visible-light-harvesting, and abundant nitrogen sites. CT-COF as a metal-free photocatalyst could reduce CO2 with gaseous H2 O to CO as the main carbonaceous product with approximately stoichiometric O2 evolution under visible-light irradiation and without cocatalyst. The CO evolution rate (102.7 μmol g-1 h-1 ) was 68.5 times that of g-C3 N4 under the same conditions. In situ Fourier-transform (FT)IR analysis indicated that CT-COF could adsorb and activate the CO2 and H2 O molecules and that COOH* species may be a key intermediate. DFT calculations suggested that nitrogen atoms in the triazine rings may be photocatalytically active sites.

Mitochondria play critical roles in the regulation of the proliferation and apoptosis of cancerous cells. Targeted induction of mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer cells by multifunctional nanosystems for cancer treatment has attracted increasing attention in the past few years. Numerous therapeutic nanosystems have been designed for precise tumor therapy by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction, including reducing adenosine triphosphate, breaking redox homeostasis, inhibiting glycolysis, regulating proteins, membrane potential depolarization, mtDNA damage, mitophagy dysregulation and so on. Understanding the mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction would be helpful for efficient treatment of diseases and accelerating the translation of these therapeutic strategies into the clinic. Then, various strategies to construct mitochondria-targeted nanosystems and induce mitochondrial dysfunction are summarized, and the recent research progress regarding precise tumor therapeutics is highlighted. Finally, the major challenges and an outlook in this rapidly developing field are discussed. This review is expected to inspire further development of novel mitochondrial dysfunction-based strategies for precise treatments of cancer and other human diseases.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been widely studied as a photocatalyst for the splitting of water to produce hydrogen. In order to solve the problems of limited number of active sites and serious recombination rate of charge-carriers, noble metals are needed as cocatalysts. Here, we selectively anchored Pt nanoparticles (NPs) to specific nitrogen species on the surface of g-C3N4 via heat treatment in argon–hydrogen gas mixture, thus achieving g-C3N4 photocatalyst anchored by highly dispersed homogeneous Pt NPs with the co-existed metallic Pt0 and Pt2+ species. The synergistic effect of highly dispersed metallic Pt0 and Pt2+ species makes the catalyst exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance. Under the full-spectrum solar light irradiation, the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of the photocatalyst is up to 18.67 mmol·g−1·h−1, which is 5.1 times of the catalyst prepared by non-selective deposition of Pt NPs.

Due to the high recurrence rate and mortality of venous thrombosis, there is an urgent need for research on antithrombotic strategies. Because of the short half-life, poor targeting capabilities, bleeding complications, and neurotoxic effects of conventional pharmacological thrombolysis methods, it is essential to develop an alternative strategy to noninvasive thrombolysis and decrease the recurrence rate of venous thrombosis. A platelet-mimetic porphyrin-based covalent organic framework-engineered melanin nanoplatform, to target delivery of hirudin to the vein thrombus site for noninvasive thrombolysis and effective anticoagulation, is first proposed. Owing to the thrombus-hosting properties of platelet membranes, the nanoplatform can target the thrombus site and then activate hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species for thrombolysis under near-infrared light irradiation. The photothermal therapy/photodynamic therapy combo can substantially improve the effectiveness (85.7%) of thrombolysis and prevent secondary embolism of larger fragments. Afterward, the highly loaded (97%) and slow-release hirudin (14 days) are effective in preventing the recurrence of blood clots without the danger of thrombocytopenia. The described biomimetic nanostructures offer a promising option for improving the efficacy of thrombolytic therapy and reducing the risk of bleeding complications in thrombus associated diseases.

The introduction of carbon materials in photocatalytic systems can significantly enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. Here, we proposed and fabricated carbon nanodots/Znln2S4 (CDs/ZIS) samples via three methods. The morphology, chemical elements and valence, and photoelectric properties of CDs/ZIS samples were systematically characterized by SEM, TEM, XPS, UV and PL. The photocatalytic H2 production experiments indicate that the photocatalytic performance of all CDs/ZIS samples has been significantly improved, which could be attributed to the fact that serving as an excellent electron acceptor, CDs can accelerate the separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. The samples prepared via one-pot hydrothermal method exhibit the optimal photocatalytic activity and the corresponding H2 production rate of 4.15 mmol g−1.h−1 under visible light irradiation (λ>420 nm), which is about 2.92 times higher than pure ZIS. Our work presented the influence of synthetic method on photoelectric performance and photocatalytic activity of CDs/ZIS nanocomposites, and provided a reliable idea for improving the photocatalytic performance of photocatalyst toward practical applications.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is gaining more and more attentions as a promising metal-free photocatalyst for H2 production. Nevertheless, from the perspective of practical applications, the photocatalytic performance over g-C3N4 in visible-light region needs a further improvement. In this work, C doping and C quantum dots (QDs) are co-integrated in g-C3N4 by a one-step thermal polymerization method to obtain an advanced C QDs/C doped g-C3N4 photocatalyst. The synergistic effects of C doping and C QDs modification promote the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4 significantly. The optimal C QDs/C doped g-C3N4 exhibits a significant improvement on visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production (205 μmol g−1 h−1) with an apparent quantum yield (AQE) at 420 nm reaching 1.24%, which is approximately nine-fold enhancement than that of pristine g-C3N4. The increased photocatalytic activity mainly benefits from the enhanced visible light absorption and carrier separation efficiency. This study may open a new perspective for the design and fabrication of C-modified g-C3N4 for photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a photocatalytic semiconductor with great potential for application, whereas, its photocatalytic activity is limited by the high re-combination rate of photo-generated electrons and holes. Here, we load two-dimensional (2D) WO3 nanosheets on the surface of one-dimensional (1D) g-C3N4 porous nanotubes to form a Z-scheme heterojunction. The built-in electric field at the interface of the heterojunction is conducive to promoting electrons transfer from the conduction band of WO3 to the valence band of g-C3N4 and therein combine with the holes. This inhibits electron–hole re-combination in g-C3N4 and WO3, and thus retains the high redox potential of the photo-generated charge-carriers. Therefore, the 2D/1D WO3/g-C3N4 heterojunction shows excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production and Rhodamine B degradation activities. Under simulated sunlight, photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of the WO3/g-C3N4 heterojunction reaches 7.78 mmol g−1 h−1, 2.7 times that of the single g-C3N4 porous nanotubes.

One of the main challenges for tumor vascular infarction in combating cancer lies in failing to produce sustained complete thrombosis. Inspired by the capability of vascular infarction in blocking the delivery of oxygen to aggravate tumor hypoxia, we herein present the performance of selective tumor thrombus inducing hypoxia activation therapy to improve the therapeutic index of coagulation-based tumor therapy. By encapsulating coagulation-inducing protease thrombin and a hypoxia-activated prodrug (HAP) tirapazamine into metal-organic framework nanoparticles with a tumor-homing ligand, the obtained nanoplatform selectively activates the platelet aggregation at tumor to induce the thrombosis and vascular obstruction therapy by the exposed thrombin. Meanwhile, the thrombus can cut off the blood oxygen supply and potentiate the hypoxia levels to enhance the HAP therapy. This strategy not only addresses the dissatisfaction of vascular therapy, but also conquers the dilemma of inadequate hypoxia in the HAP treatment. Since clinical operations such as surgery can be used to induce the coagulation, the coagulation based synergistic therapy is promising to be translated into a clinical combination regimen. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) National Research Foundation (NRF) Submitted/Accepted version This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21778020, 31750110464, and 31950410755), the Sci-Tech Innovation Foundation of Huazhong Agricultural University (2662018PY024), the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFD0500706), and the Science and Technology Major Project of Guangxi (Gui Ke AA18118046). This work was also supported by the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) AME IRG grant (A20E5c0081), and the Singapore National Research Foundation Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2018-03).

Ferroptosis, a newfound non-apoptotic cell death pathway that is iron- and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent, has shown a promise for tumor treatment. However, engineering ferroptosis inducers with sufficient hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and iron supplying capacity remains a great challenge. To address this issue, herein, we report a powerful nanoreactor by modifying MnO2, glucose oxidase, and polyethylene glycol on iron-based metal-organic framework nanoparticles for disrupting redox and iron metabolism homeostasis, directly providing the Fenton reaction-independent downstream ferroptosis for tumor therapy. By consuming glutathione and oxidizing glucose to increase the H2O2 level in cancer cells and downregulating ferroportin 1 to accumulate intracellular iron ions, the homeostasis disruptor could effectively enhance the ferroptosis. Subsequently, the ferroptosis cells release tumor immune-associated antigens, which combine with in situ injected aptamer-PD-L1 to further strengthen the tumor treatment efficiency. This work not only paves a way to enhance the efficacy of ferroptosis-based cancer therapy by associating intracellular redox homeostasis with the iron metabolism system in tumor cells but also offers an engineered nanoreactor as a promising mimetic antigen for activating immunotherapy. This work was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (2021YFD1400800), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21778020 and 21804046).

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) destroys cancer cells by converting H2O2 or O2 into reactive oxygen species (ROS), but its therapeutic efficacy is restricted by the antioxidant capacity of tumor. Previous solutions focused on strengthening the nanodrugs with the ability to increase ROS production or weaken the antioxidant capacity of cancer cells. Conversely, we here develop a mild nanodrug with negligible side effects. Specifically, the Au@Pt nanozyme decorated on a bacterial surface (Bac-Au@Pt) is reported to achieve precise CDT. Due to the tumor targeting ability of bacteria and catalytic property of Au@Pt nanozyme under acidic conditions, this nanosystem can release ROS to tumor cells effectively. In addition, the interferon gamma released by T cells specifically decreases the intracellular reductants in tumor cells, while having no obvious effect on normal cells. Therefore, a low dose of Bac-Au@Pt achieves a satisfactory therapeutic efficacy to tumor cells and is nontoxic to normal cells even at their acidic components. This nanosystem enables CDT and immunotherapy to mutually benefit and improve by each other, providing a promising strategy to achieve high anticancer efficacy even with a low dose usage. National Research Foundation (NRF) This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21778020 and 31950410755), the Sci-Tech Innovation Foundation of Huazhong Agricultural University (2662018PY024), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662015QD026), and the Science and Technology Major Project of Guangxi (Gui Ke AA18118046). This work is also supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2018-03).

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is considered an alternative for oncotherapy because it has less invasive damage to normal tissues than other methods, particularly in second near-infrared (NIR-II) PTT (1000-1350 nm) because of deeper biological tissue penetration, lower photon scattering, and higher maximum permissible exposure (1.0 W cm

Summary Currently, patients receiving cancer treatments routinely suffer from distressing toxic effects, most originating from premature drug leakage, poor biocompatibility, and off-targeting. For tackling this challenge, we construct an intracellular Ca2+ cascade for tumor therapy via photothermal activation of TRPV1 channels. The nanoplatform creates an artificial calcium overloading stress in specific tumor cells, which is responsible for efficient cell death. Notably, this efficient treatment is activated by mild acidity and TRPV1 channels simultaneously, which contributes to precise tumor therapy and is not limited to hypoxic tumor. In addition, Ca2+ possesses inherent unique biological effect and normal cells are more tolerant of the undesirable destructive influence than tumor cells. The Ca2+ overload leads to cell death due to mitochondrial dysfunction (upregulation of Caspase-3, cytochrome c, and downregulation of Bcl-2 and ATP), and in vivo, the released photothermal CuS nanoparticles allow an enhanced 3D photoacoustic imaging and provide instant diagnosis.

Nickel element cannot exist stably on its own, but with an bared of an NiO shell, nickel element can realize desirable stable existence. Herein, Ni2+ was photoreduced to Ni particles and deposited on graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4) under vacuum. The surface of Ni particles was oxidized to form an NiO shell after the samples were exposed to air, and elemental Ni was protected by the encapsulation of the NiO shell to realize the coexistence of Ni and NiO. The chainmail co-catalyst of NiO shell-encapsulated Ni over g-C3N4 (Ni/NiO/g-C3N4) was prepared and applied in the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 and showed the best photocatalytic activity when the Ni/NiO loading was 3 wt%. After illumination for 2 h, the CO generation rate reached a value of 27.9 μmol g−1 h−1, which was about nine times that of pure g-C3N4. The steady-state surface photovoltage spectrum (SPV), ultrafast spectrum of transient photovoltage (TPV) and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectra as well as electrochemical tests showed that Ni/NiO/g-C3N4 has a low recombination rate of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and DFT calculations were used to explain the photocatalytic mechanism at the molecular level.

Herein, an ultrathin Pt nanozyme has been developed. The Pt nanozyme exhibited both oxidase and peroxidase-mimetic properties, leading to relieved hypoxia and specific oxidative damage in tumor cells in a cascade manner. Meanwhile, hydrophilic Pt2+ was released sustainably under tumor acidity. These properties endow the Pt nanozyme with great potential in killing drug resistant tumor cells while not damaging normal cells.

Photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to solar fuels is considered an alternative approach for simultaneously mitigating the greenhouse effect and solving energy shortage. The efficient light harvesting and the thermochemical conversion have been demanding quests in photocatalysis due to the relatively low solar energy utilization efficiency. In this work, oxygen vacancies are induced in MoO3 for improving photo-thermal CO2 reduction efficiency by capturing near-infrared (NIR) photons. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of MoO3−x triggered by oxygen vacancies enables the efficient capture of NIR photons. Additionally, oxygen vacancies can promote the carrier separation, improve CO2 adsorption on the defective surface and lower the barrier of CO2 hydrogenation during the conversion process. As a result, MoO3−x displayed dramatically enhanced photo-thermal synergistic CO2 reduction under simulated sunlight (UV-Vis-IR) irradiation than MoO3. The amount of CO produced by MoO3−x can reach 10.3 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 20 times higher than that of MoO3 (0.52 μmol g−1 h−1). And the CH4 production of MoO3−x can reach 2.08 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 52 times higher than that of MoO3 (0.04 μmol g−1 h−1). In situ FT-IR and theoretical calculations also proved the enhanced activity of MoO3−x. This work highlights the significance of defect engineering for improving the photo-thermal catalytic conversion of CO2.

The strategy that combines photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) is widely used to achieve strong antitumor efficiency. Since light in the NIR-II window possesses ideal penetration ability, developing NIR-II PTT and NIR-II light triggered photosensitizer release for combined PDT and PTT is very promising in nanomedicine. Methods: We develop a novel nanocarrier (termed AuHNRs-DTPP) by conjugating photosensitizer contained chimeric peptide (DTPP) to Au hollow nanorods (AuHNRs). AuHNRs was obtained by a Te-templated method with the assistance of L-cysteine. The chimeric peptide PpIX-PEG8-GGK(TPP)GRDEVDGC (DTPP) was obtained through a solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) method. Results: Under the 1064 nm laser irradiation, the nanocarrier can accumulate heat quickly for efficient PTT, and then release activated photosensitizer for real-time apoptosis imaging. Thereafter, supplementary PDT can be conducted to kill tumor cells survived from the PTT, and meanwhile the normal tissue can be protected from photo-toxicity. Conclusion: This designed AuHNRs-DTPP nanocarrier with remarkable therapy effect, real-time apoptosis imaging ability and reduced skin damage is of great potential in nanomedicine application.

Summary Currently, patients receiving cancer treatments routinely suffer from distressing toxic effects, most originating from premature drug leakage, poor biocompatibility, and off-targeting. For tackling this challenge, we construct an intracellular Ca2+ cascade for tumor therapy via photothermal activation of TRPV1 channels. The nanoplatform creates an artificial calcium overloading stress in specific tumor cells, which is responsible for efficient cell death. Notably, this efficient treatment is activated by mild acidity and TRPV1 channels simultaneously, which contributes to precise tumor therapy and is not limited to hypoxic tumor. In addition, Ca2+ possesses inherent unique biological effect and normal cells are more tolerant of the undesirable destructive influence than tumor cells. The Ca2+ overload leads to cell death due to mitochondrial dysfunction (upregulation of Caspase-3, cytochrome c, and downregulation of Bcl-2 and ATP), and in vivo, the released photothermal CuS nanoparticles allow an enhanced 3D photoacoustic imaging and provide instant diagnosis., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • The Ca2+ cascade is selectively constructed in vivo without being limited to hypoxic tumor • Ca2+ overload leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and cancer death • The released CuS NPs provide an enhanced 3D photoacoustic imaging • Ca2+-interference therapy avoids the obstacles of traditional treatment, Medical Imaging; Nanoparticles; Cancer

Ignored damage in adjacent normal tissue is fatal especially in some specific tumor therapy such as brain tumors, but it remains a great challenge to conquer due to random drug diffusion and tumor complexity. Herein, we show that hyperthermia in mitochondria, an interparticle plasmonic coupling effect activated nanoevent, selectively strikes tumor tissues without damaging adjacent normal tissues. Spherical gold nanoparticles with a mitochondria-targeting moiety, triphenyl phosphonium, preferentially accumulated inside tumor mitochondria and reached the threshold to activate interparticle plasmonic coupling effect among gold nanoparticles, realizing selective light-thermal conversion and mitochondrial dysfunction in tumor, whereas little hyperthermia and mitochondrial dysfunction were observed in adjacent normal tissues. In vivo study revealed that the temperature increment in tumor tissue with irradiation was nearly 4-fold that in adjacent normal tissue. This subcellular organelle-templated accumulation strategy provides a therapeutic model for highly selective tumor therapy with negligible local side effects.

The development of low cost, metal free semiconductor photocatalysts for CO2 reduction to fuels and valuable chemical feedstocks is a practically imperative for reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In this work, black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) were successfully dispersed on a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) support via a simple electrostatic attraction approach, and the activities of BP@g-C3N4 composites were evaluated for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. The BP@g-C3N4 composites displayed improved carrier separation efficiency and higher activities for photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO (6.54 µmol g−1 h−1 at the optimum BPQDs loading of 1 wt%) compared with pure g-C3N4 (2.65 µmol g−1 h−1) . This work thus identifies a novel approach towards metal free photocatalysts for CO2 photoreduction.

Photodynamic therapy as a non-invasive approach has obtained great research attention during the last decade. However, photodynamic therapy still suffers from low tumor selectivity and therapeutic inefficacy due to the unspecific distribution of photosensitizers in normal tissues/cells. To overcome these hurdles, functional peptides have been introduced in photodynamic therapy systems due to their advantages of functional diversity, bioactivity, high biocompatibility and biodegradability. Herein, we review various peptide-based self-assemblies or hybrid nanoparticles that have already been reported to achieve tumor tissue, cell or subcellular organelle targeted photodynamic therapy. The role of tumor microenvironments, cellular/subcellular location, and physical/chemical properties of peptide-based nanoparticles in facilitating the photodynamic therapy efficiency are discussed in-depth. The novel development of peptide-based nanoparticles described here should offer great potential to achieve better photodynamic therapy in tumors.

In photocatalysis systems, precious metal co-catalysts play very important roles. Here, a photodeposition method is used to load Pt on different photocatalysts for photocatalytic CO2 conversion testing. The performance results indicate that the selectivity of semiconductor photocatalysts for CO2 reduction was effectively reversed from CO to CH4 due to the introduction of Pt.

Rapid development of nanotechnology provides promising strategies in biomedicine, especially in tumor therapy. In particular, the cellular uptake of nanosystems is not only a basic premise to realize various biomedical applications, but also a fatal factor for determining the final therapeutic effect. Thus, a systematic and comprehensive summary is necessary to overview the recent research progress on the improvement of nanosystem cellular uptake for cancer treatment. According to the process of nanosystems entering the body, they can be classified into three categories. The first segment is to enhance the accumulation and permeation of nanosystems to tumor cells through extracellular microenvironment stimulation. The second segment is to improve cellular internalization from extracellular to intracellular via active targeting. The third segment is to enhance the intracellular retention of therapeutics by subcellular localization. The major factors in the delivery can be utilized to develop multifunctional nanosystems for strengthening the tumor therapy. Ultimately, the key challenges and prospective in the emerging research frontier are thoroughly outlined. This review is expected to provide inspiring ideas, promising strategies and potential pathways for developing advanced anticancer nanosystems in clinical practice.

Higher reaction temperature can induce the better solar catalytic hydrogen (H 2 ) production performance on noble-metal loaded photocatalyst. Here, the thermal effect generated by the infrared light was used to enhance the solar catalytic hydrogen production from methanol-water solution. The light to hydrogen (LTH) conversion efficiency of Pt/TiO 2 reached to 0.36% under full spectrum light source. The results indicated that infrared part of solar light can be utilized as thermal source to enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen generation.

BiOX (X = Br and Cl) have been widely used for photocatalytic environmental remediation and solar fuels generation. Here, we applied a new method for large scale preparation of BiOX ultrathin nanosheets. Samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), BET surface area (BET), photoluminescence spectra (PL), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The BiOCl ultrathin nanosheets (BOC-U) and BiOBr ultrathin nanosheets (BOB-U) showed enhanced photocatalytic activity for CO 2 conversion than bulk BiOCl and BiOBr.

Currently, patients receiving cancer treatments routinely suffer from distressing toxic effects, most originating from premature drug leakage, poor biocompatibility and off-targeting. For tackling this challenge, we construct an intracellular Ca2+ cascade for tumor therapy via photothermal activation of TRPV1 channels. The nanoplatform creates an artificial calcium overloading stress in specific tumor cells, which is responsible for efficient cell death. Notably, this efficient treatment is activated by mild acidity and TRPV1 channels simultaneously, which contributes to precise tumor therapy and is not limited to hypoxic tumor. In addition, Ca2+ possesses inherent unique biological effect and normal cells are more tolerant of the undesirable destructive influence of NPs than tumor cells. The Ca2+ overload leads to cell death due to mitochondrial dysfunction (upregulation of Caspase-3, cytochrome c, and downregulation of Bcl-2 and ATP) and in vivo, the release photothermal CuS NPs allows an enhanced 3D photoacoustic (PA) imaging and provide instant diagnosis.

Visible-light-driven CO

Prompt recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes in bulk and on the surface of photocatalysts harshly impedes the photocatalytic efficiency. However, the simultaneous manipulation of photocharges in the two locations is challenging. Herein, the synchronous promotion of bulk and surface separation of photoinduced charges for prominent CO

Photocatalytic selective oxidative coupling of amines is a promising method for imine synthesis. Bismuth-rich bismuth oxybromide photocatalysts have been found to exhibit improved conversion and selectivity for the visible-light-driven selective oxidative coupling of amines to imines in water. Benzylamines with either electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups undergo good conversion (94-99 %) and excellent selectivity (93-98 %) to the corresponding imines. The average apparent quantum efficiency at 455 nm is 57.4 %. Active species trapping experiments, isotope experiments, and in situ infrared spectroscopy reveal that water both serves as solvent and participates in the coupling reaction as a reactant. This work provides a green and environmentally friendly method for the efficient synthesis of imines with bismuth-rich bismuth oxyhalides and reveals water is involved in the oxidative coupling mechanism of benzylamines.

Layered bismuth oxychloride (BOC) exhibits highly efficient activity for photocatalytic environmental remediation due to the confinement effect induced excitonic photocatalytic process. However, the strong excitonic process suppresses catalytic reactions with photo-induced electrons, such as hydrogen generation, CO2 conversion and nitrogen fixation. Moreover, the wide band gap of BiOCl limits its application under visible light. In this study, flexible BiOCl nanosheets with oxygen vacancies (BOC-OV) were successfully prepared. Molecular oxygen activation, electronic spin resonance (ESR), transient photocurrent, transient absorption spectroscopy, and transient fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that oxygen vacancies induced exciton dissociation of flexible BiOCl nanosheets. Moreover, oxygen vacancies induced wide spectrum (UV-Vis) absorption. The enhanced exciton dissociation resulted in the superior CO2 conversion of BOC-OV under UV-Vis light irradiation, where the light to carbon monoxide (LTCO) conversion efficiency reached up to 26.5 × 10−6. Theoretical calculations and in situ Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) analysis revealed that the mechanism of oxygen vacancies improves the photocatalytic CO2 conversion with BOC-OV via the CO2 hydrogenation pathway. This study indicates that oxygen vacancies have a great influence on photocatalytic CO2 reduction due to their special surface and electron structure properties.

In this paper, transition metal phosphide (TMP) was used as cocatalyst to enhance the photocatalytic activity of Cd0.5Zn0.5S solid solution for nitrogen fixation under visible light irradiation. The Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic data showed that Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S had higher activity than pure Cd0.5Zn0.5S for photocatalytic dinitrogen (N2) fixation in the absence of any scavengers. After 1 h visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm), the concentration of NH3 reached to 101.5 μmol L−1. And the quantum efficiency at 420 nm monochromatic light reached 4.32%, which much higher than other semiconductors. Time-resolved PL spectra, photocurrent and electrochemical impedance (EIS) spectroscopy revealed that higher photo-induced carrier separation efficiency of Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S. This work introduced Cd0.5Zn0.5S solid solution photocatalyst to reduce nitrogen, and offered a greenly, economically and efficiently way for nitrogen fixation.

Prompt recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes in bulk and on the surface of photocatalysts harshly impedes the photocatalytic efficiency. However, the simultaneous manipulation of photocharges in the two locations is challenging. Herein, the synchronous promotion of bulk and surface separation of photoinduced charges for prominent CO2 photoreduction by coupling macroscopic spontaneous polarization and surface oxygen vacancies (OVs) of BiOIO3 single crystals is reported. The oriented growth of BiOIO3 single-crystal nanostrips along the [001] direction, ensuing substantial well-aligned IO3 polar units, renders a large enhancement for the macroscopic polarization electric field, which is capable of driving the rapid separation and migration of charges from bulk to surface. Meanwhile the introduction of surface OVs establishes a local electric field for charge migration to catalytic sites on the surface of BiOIO3 nanostrips. Highly polarized BiOIO3 nanostrips with ample OVs demonstrate outstanding CO2 reduction activity for CO production with a rate of 17.33 µmol g-1 h-1 (approximately ten times enhancement) without any sacrificial agents or cocatalysts, being one of the best CO2 reduction photocatalysts in the gas-solid system reported so far. This work provides an integrated solution to governing charge movement behavior on the basis of collaborative polarization from bulk and surface.

Despite the great success in clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Gd3+ -based contrast agents still suffer from low proton relaxation efficiency, rapid metabolic clearance as well as poor sensitivity. In this work, we designed a matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) responsive chimeric peptide for dual-stage-amplified MRI and precise photodynamic therapy . Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicated that this chimeric peptide could self-assembly into spherical nanoparticles at physiological condition with r 1 value of 28.17 mM−1s−1. Meanwhile, the spherical shape endowed chimeric peptide with efficient tumor accumulation via enhanced penetration and retention (EPR) effect. Importantly, the overexpressed MMP-2 in tumor region could specifically hydrolyze chimeric peptide, leading to sphere-to-fiber transformation. This transformation enhanced both the tumor accumulation and the relaxivity of contrast agent. Consequently, the r 1 value was remarkably elevated to 51.52 mM−1s−1, which guided precise photodynamic therapy. This tumor microenvironment-triggered transformable strategy should show great potential for tumor-targeted imaging and phototherapy.

Tumor targeted drug delivery in vivo remains a significant challenge in tumor therapy. In this article, we fabricated a steric shielding protected/tumor acidity-activated chimeric peptide for tumor targeted photodynamic therapy. This amphiphilic chimeric peptide could form spherical nanoparticles at neutrally physiological environment with the shielding of biotin molecule (tumor target ligand). When in tumor acidic microenvironment, acidity-sensitive dimethylmaleic amide was rapidly hydrolyzed, resulting in subsequent liberation of (Lys)8 and the recovery of intramolecular electrostatic interaction between (Lys)8 and (Glu)8. Then (Glu)8 folded (Lys)8 and biotin molecule was popped up to the surface of nanoparticles. Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicated that this steric shielding protected/tumor acidity-activated pop-up strategy demonstrated here could remarkably enhance tumor specific accumulation/internalization of chimeric peptide, improve photodynamic therapy efficacy and minimize the side effects. This strategy should not only be used for phototherapy, but also open a window to endow nanocarriers with effective tumor target ability.

In order to solve the problem of delay and safety of EMU, caused by insulation decrease, temperature jump, open circuit, and structural damages of bogie temperature sensor, this paper analyzes the causes of failure, expounding the defects of traditional structure and installation method of the sensor on the bogie. By discussing two kinds of temperature monitoring methods (infrared and wireless technologies), it is shown that wireless sensor technology is usable in temperature monitoring redundancy design. The proposal of installing the emergency wireless temperature monitoring device at the point of abnormal temperature is put forward, so as to ensure that the bogie temperature is always controlled and that the punctuality and safety of the EMU are improved.