Themed collection 2022 Nanoscale HOT Article Collection

Based on decades of optical application research, the NIR-I and NIR-II window can be expected to involve biomedical applications. The outlook of nano-phosphors composed of transition elements in the fourth period has been described in this review.

We review the recent progress in nanotechnology-mediated delivery of therapeutic RNAs that have been employed to evoke tumor suppressing responses for cancer therapy.

This minireview highlights the recent progress in the construction of self-supported MOF-based nanostructures including pristine MOFs, MOF composites and MOF derivative arrays, and their application in SCs.

In this review, endogenous/exogenous stimuli-responsive therapeutic systems for diabetic infected wounds are summarized.

The ever-increasing energy demand leads to fast depletion of fossil fuels and excessive CO₂ emission into the atmosphere, and requires efficient capture and conversion of CO₂ to achieve negative carbon emission and energy sustainability.

This review focuses on the recent research progress in photocatalytic CO₂ conversion systems from C1 products to multi-carbon oxygenates.

As a clean and renewable energy carrier, hydrogen (H₂) has become an attractive alternative to dwindling fossil fuels.

A magneto-optical nanoplatform integrating near infrared fluorescence, photoacoustic, and magnetic resonance imaging shows great promise for the accurate diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

We provide an overview of various nature-inspired micro/nanomotors through summarizing the natural morphology-inspired micro/nanomotors, natural structure-inspired micro/nanomotors and versatile micro/nanomotors with nature-inspired behaviors.

Doping Ti atoms into ultrathin WO₃ nanosheets can enhance the separation of photogenerated carriers and facilitate charge transfer, which is beneficial for CO₂ activation and COOH* formation, thus promoting the formation of CH₃OH.

This work represents the novel example of core-shell NPs@conductive MOFs applied in electrocatalysis. This composite exhibits the ability to expedite electron transfer with different thicknesses of electrode materials through direct interfaces.

The 3D porous Cu-TCPP(Cu) MOF was adopted as the catalytic scaffold on exquisite multi-junction Si-based photocathodes for boosting both the kinetics and selectivity of photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction reactions.

In this article we report a new laser processing method, combining the in situ graphitization of polyimide with simultaneous transfer of the graphene patterns to arbitrary substrates.

Biicosahedral Au₂₅ clusters exhibit room-temperature phosphorescence from the excited triplet state with an intersystem crossing quantum yield of almost 100%. This property allows triplet sensitization and induces triplet fusion photon upconversion.

In this work, we report a new method to fabricate patterned perovskite quantum dots (PQDs). By this method, high resolution patterned PQDs are obtained. This method provides a reference for researchers to fabricate high-resolution patterned PQDs.

This paper presents a deep learning-based approach to automate particle size analysis in the microscopy images of catalyst layers for polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

A high-safety and high-voltage 3-(2,2,2-trifluoro)ethoxypropionitrile based electrolyte displayed excellent compatibility with lithium metal anode and 4.4 V NCM cathode, exhibiting potential application in high energy density lithium batteries.

All-solution-processed PeQLEDs are developed by interfacial passivation with an electron transporting material containing a PO group, revealing bright green emission with a promising external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.47%.

A Bi–Ni bimetal nanosheet with mesoporous structure is prepared via a self-template electrochemical in situ method. The alloying effect between Bi and Ni regulated the electronic structure, thus improving the intrinsic activity of Bi–Ni catalyst.

A vacuum ultraviolet photodetector made of ultrawide bandgap semiconductor LaAlO₃ demonstrates an anisotropic photo response behavior under 185 nm light illumination via the precise regulation of the crystal orientations at (100), (110), (111) plane.

Yolk(CaO)–shell(ZrO₂)-structured sorbents yield superior materials for high-temperature CO₂ capture by mitigating deactivation via sintering and mixed phase (CaZrO₃) formation.

Carbon-coated Na_3.36FeV(PO₄)₃ with a Na superionic conductor structure. The sample exhibits excellent rate properties and ultra-stable cycle performance.

A cluster-nuclei co-assembly strategy has been adopted to obtain magnetic quasi-nanosheets that exhibit excellent performance towards microplastic removal from water.

The defective Cu-BDC photocatalysts with different defect concentration and Cu¹⁺/Cu²⁺ coordinatively unsaturated sites (CUS) content were designed and synthesized by introducing defective linkers with different pK_a values.

Herein, ultrasmall ZrC nanodots were successfully synthesized with high near-infrared absorption and strong photon attenuation for the synergistic photothermal-radiotherapy of glioma.

Interfacial Bi–S bonds form atomic-scale charge-flow highways to speed up the charge flow, promote the bulk carrier separation, and enhance the photoelectrochemical performance of CIS/BWO photoanodes via forming Z-scheme heterojunctions.

Conformational transition of PEG on a mesoporous surface for advancing cell recognition and uptake for targeted siRNA delivery.

We proposed a facile strategy of extracting biochar from Enteromorpha prolifera, which provides a suitable surface and multiple polarizations, and thereby contributes to the target optimized impedance matching degree and strong energy dissipation.

The “acceptor-shielding” strategy is adopted, that is, two dodecyls of the multiarylpyrroles are introduced into the acceptor that can enhance the production of pure type I ROS, for realizing the synergistic effect of PDT and immunotherapy.

Networks of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are used as the transducing layer for sensors based on water-gated transistors.

We have constructed a dual gate-controlled intelligent nanoreactor (HA-DSF@HCuS@FePtMn, HDHF) by the ingenious combination of hollow copper sulfide nanoparticles (HCuS), DSF and FePtMn nanocrystals.

Dynamics of assembling an OLA-functionalized ZnO vehicle, loading an anticancer drug, and releasing the loaded cargo to the target sites.

Alkyl groups are grafted onto the surface of g-C₃N₄ for optimizing the adsorption of reactants and improving the photoelectronic properties, and thus greatly enhance the photocatalytic CO₂ reduction activity.

We report a unique graphene architecture combining the advantages of highly vertical alignments and covalently bonded interfaces to improve the heat transfer ability of PVDF, achieving a thermal conductivity enhancement per 1 wt% filler loading of up to 1659.

The performance of potassium (K)-ion batteries (KIBs) is not only dependent on electrode materials but also highly related to the electrolyte.

A lignin-derived flexible porous carbon matrix loaded with atomic Fe is prepared for the regulation of Se cathodes and Na anodes.

Water-resistant polycarbonate-part-encapsulated heterojunction of Zn,Pt^IV co-doped PbO-MAPbBr₃ was prepared by ESI-microdroplet synthesis. Electron deficient sites of Pt^IV lowered d-band center to inhibit H adsorption, enhancing N₂ affinity for NRR.

The dodecahedral structure formed by etching ZIF-67 and introducing NICo₂S₄ on the surface exhibits excellent microwave absorption performance.

Photothermal agents (PTAs) based on organic small molecules with near-infrared (NIR) absorption (700–900 nm) have attracted increasing attention in cancer photothermal therapy (PTT).

Flexible CuS-embedded human serum albumin hollow nanocapsules with peroxidase-like activity, a longer blood circulation time and higher tumor accumulation are prepared for synergistic sonodynamic and photothermal therapy for breast cancer.

The result of probing the dynamic structure of co-sputtered CuO and ZnO electrocatalyst suggests the reversing Ostwald ripening of Cu structure is triggered during CO₂RR and has a key impact on its methane selectivity.

Nanoporous gold (NPG) is prepared with a complete regular surface that exposes the Au {111} and {100} facets through methane pyrolysis. C species significantly affect the migration and recombination of surface atoms.

SERS tag-labeled nanoplastic models for quantitative analysis of nanoplastics (NPs) were developed and they suggested the risk of NP uptake by humans via bivalve seafood diets.

The ZnCr-LDH/Ti₃C₂T_x hybrid obtained using an in situ coprecipitation method was forming a Schottky junction to promote the yield of photoreduction CO₂ to CO and CH₄ gas.

All-inorganic core–shell InP/ZnSe nanocrystals exhibited remarkable optical and morphological changes in response to the external stimulus of high pressure.

Molecular dynamics simulations elucidate the influence of polyplex charge density on the liposome self-assembly process at the atomic level, which provides a complementary approach to experiments for a better understanding of this promising gene therapy delivery system.

Semiconductor doping using liquid metals.

A room temperature halide exchange mediated cation exchange strategy leads to Ln³⁺ doping in perovskite NPs.

Combining rGO composite and carbon coating strategies, the nano-KFeF₃ presents excellent rate property and ultra-stable cycle performance. The reaction mechanism of nano-KFeF₃ consists of mainly solid solution and partly conversion processes.

We propose a metal–organic-framework-derived high-performance Fe–N–C electrocatalyst for Li–CO₂ batteries. Abundant atomically Fe–N_x active sites were formed in the porous carbon framework to provided catalytical sites with high activity.

The mesenchymal stem cells were genetically engineered to obtain exosomes with high CXCR4 expression as carriers for targeted gene-drug delivery.

Moiré effects in twisted trilayer black phosphorene and their control by pressure and electric field.

Mung bean-derived nanoparticles exhibit antioxidant activity to reduce reactive oxygen species, which can modulate the immune microenvironment and effectively inhibit psoriasiform skin inflammation.

Atomically precise Au₂₅ cluster catalyst obtained by long-term aging of Au₂₅(SR)₁₈ on double metal hydroxide at 150 °C showed significant activity in benzyl alcohol oxidation in basic water.

We show how coarse-grained modelling combined with umbrella sampling using distance-based order parameters can be applied to compute the free-energy landscapes associated with mechanical deformations of large DNA nanostructures.

An anti-bacterial patch, which is achieved by mounting polypyrrole/carbon nanotube catalysts on a piezoelectric–dielectric film is developed.

Due to the unique structure of Bi₂Te₃, nanosheets (BT-Ns) were fabricated by a self-assembly method. Additionally, the BT-N anode exhibits excellent rate and long-term cyclic performance, delivering 364.0 mA h g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹ after 1200 cycles.

Gold nanocluster mediated electromagnetic induction heating hyperthermia can effectively induce the browning of white adipocytes.

We prepared virus-like SCV-PEG with superior ability to enter cells. It showed POD-mimic catalytic activity and a mild-temperature PTT effect, and the produced VO²⁺ can bind HSP60 to promote PTT.

Using a DNA/MOF biosensor array for tracking the products of ATP hydrolysis reactions, a better understanding of different reaction pathways can be achieved with a high level of robustness and confidence.