High fluorescence quantum yield (QY), excellent fluorescence stability, and low toxicity are essential for a good cellular imaging fluorescent probe. Green-emissive carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with many advantages, such as unique fluorescence properties, anti-photobleaching, low toxicity, fine biocompatibility and high penetration depth in tissues, have been considered as a potential candidate in cell imaging fluorescent probes. Herein, N, S-codoped green-emissive CQDs (QY= 64.03%) were synthesized by the one-step hydrothermal method, with m-phenylenediamine as the carbon and nitrogen source, and L-cysteine as the nitrogen and sulfur dopant, under the optimum condition of 200 °C reaction for 2 h. Their luminescence was found to originate from the surface state. In light of the satisfactory photobleaching resistance and the low cytotoxicity, CQDs were used as a cell imaging probe for HeLa cell imaging. The results clearly indicate that cells can be labeled with CQDs, which can not only enter the cytoplasm, but also enter the nucleus through the nuclear pore, showing their broad application prospect in the field of cell imaging.

Developing chemotherapy drugs with high efficacy and few side effects has been a bottleneck problem that requires an efficient solution. The active cancer treatment ingredient disulfiram (DSF), inspired by the copper(II) diethyldithiocarbamate complex (CuET), can be used in a one-pot synthesis method to construct a CuET delivery nanosystem (CuET-ZIF_Cu@HA). Due to the high biocompatibility, targeting of CD44 overexpressed cancer cells, and acid response of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) materials of hyaluronic acid (HA), we realized that CuET-ZIF_Cu@HA could become an effective and highly selective cancer treatment. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments have demonstrated that CuET-ZIF_Cu@HA has robust anti-tumor properties without evident side effects. This research provided a promising strategy for DSF nanosystems that involves simple preparation and high efficacy, both of which are key to reusing DSF in cancer treatment.

The synergistic effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC) can effectively reduce the protein absorption, which is beneficial to theranostics. However, PEG–PMPC-based polymers have rarely been used as nanocarriers in the theranostic field due to their limited modifiability and weak interaction with other materials. Herein, a plain method was proposed to endow them with the probable ability of loading small active agents, and the relationship between the structure and the ability of loading hydrophobic agents was explored, thus expanding their applications. Firstly, mPEG–PMPC or 4-arm-PEG–PMPC polymer was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using mPEG-Br or 4-arm-PEG-Br as the macroinitiator. Then a strong hydrophobic segment, poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA), was introduced and the ability to load small hydrophobic agents was further explored. The results showed that linear mPEG–PMPC–PBMA could form micelles 50–80 nm in size and load the hydrophobic agent such as Nile red efficiently. In contrast, star-like 4-arm-PEG–PMPC–PBMA, a monomolecular micelle (10–20 nm), could hardly load any hydrophobic agent. This work highlights effective strategies for engineering PEG–PMPC-based polymers and may facilitate the further application in numerous fields.

Research on glass nanocomposites (GNCs) has been very active in the past decades. GNCs have attracted — and still do — great interest in the fields of optoelectronics, photonics, sensing, electrochemistry, catalysis, biomedicine, and art. In this review, the potential applications of GNCs in these fields are briefly described to show the reader the possibilities of these materials. The most important synthesis methods of GNCs (melt-quenching, sol-gel, ion implantation, ion-exchange, staining process, spark plasma sintering, radio frequency sputtering, spray pyrolysis, and chemical vapor deposition techniques) are extensively explained. The major aim of this review is to systematize our knowledge about the synthesis of GNCs and to explore the mechanisms of formation and growth of NPs within glass matrices. The size-controlled preparation of NPs within glass matrices, which remains a challenge, is essential for advanced applications. Therefore, a thorough understanding of GNC synthesis techniques is expected to facilitate the preparation of innovative GNCs.

Lithium–sulfur (Li‒S) battery has been considered as one of the most promising future batteries owing to the high theoretical energy density (2600 W·h·kg⁻¹) and the usage of the inexpensive active materials (elemental sulfur). The recent progress in fundamental research and engineering of the Li‒S battery, involved in electrode, electrolyte, membrane, binder, and current collector, has greatly promoted the performance of Li‒S batteries from the laboratory level to the approaching practical level. However, the safety concerns still deserve attention in the following application stage. This review focuses on the development of the electrolyte for Li‒S batteries from liquid state to solid state. Some problems and the corresponding solutions are emphasized, such as the soluble lithium polysulfides migration, ionic conductivity of electrolyte, the interface contact between electrolyte and electrode, and the reaction kinetics. Moreover, future perspectives of the safe and high-performance Li‒S batteries are also introduced.

Tricobalt tetroxide (Co₃O₄) is one of the promising anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity. However, the poor electrical conductivity and the rapid capacity decay hamper its practical application. In this work, we design and fabricate a hierarchical Co₃O₄ nanorods/N-doped graphene (Co₃O₄/NG) material by a facile hydrothermal method. The nitrogen-doped graphene layers could buffer the volume change of Co₃O₄ nanorods during the delithium/lithium process, increase the electrical conductivity, and profit the diffusion of ions. As an anode, the Co₃O₄/NG material reveals high specific capacities of 1873.8 mA·h·g⁻¹ after 120 cycles at 0.1 A·g⁻¹ as well as 1299.5 mA·h·g⁻¹ after 400 cycles at 0.5 A·g⁻¹. Such superior electrochemical performances indicate that this work may provide an effective method for the design and synthesis of other metal oxide/N-doped graphene electrode materials.

The consumer demand for emerging technologies such as augmented reality (AR), autopilot, and three-dimensional (3D) internet has rapidly promoted the application of novel optical display devices in innovative industries. However, the micro/nanomanufacturing of high-resolution optical display devices is the primary issue restricting their development. The manufacturing technology of micro/nanostructures, methods of display mechanisms, display materials, and mass production of display devices are major technical obstacles. To comprehensively understand the latest state-of-the-art and trigger new technological breakthroughs, this study reviews the recent research progress of master molds produced using nanoimprint technology for new optical devices, particularly AR glasses, new-generation light-emitting diode car lighting, and naked-eye 3D display mechanisms, and their manufacturing techniques of master molds. The focus is on the relationships among the manufacturing process, microstructure, and display of a new optical device. Nanoimprint master molds are reviewed for the manufacturing and application of new optical devices, and the challenges and prospects of the new optical device diffraction grating nanoimprint technology are discussed.

In recent years, superhydrophobic coatings have received extensive attention due to their functions of waterproof, antifouling, self-cleaning, etc. However, wide applications of superhydrophobic coatings are still affected by their disadvantages of complex preparation, low mechanical properties, and poor ultraviolet (UV) resistance. In this study, cellulose nanocrystal containing a small amount of lignin (L-CNC)/SiO₂ composite particles were used as the main material, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the adhesive and perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane (FOTS) as the modifier to prepare superhydrophobic coatings by a one-step spray method. The resulted coating showed excellent superhydrophobicity (water contact angle (WCA) of 161° and slide angle (SA) of 7°) and high abrasion resistance (capable of withstanding 50 abrasion cycles under the load of 50 g). Moreover, it still maintained good superhydrophobicity after 5 h of exposure to the UV light (1000 W), displaying its good UV resistance. This study provides theoretical and technical reference for the simple preparation of organic‒inorganic composite superhydrophobic coatings with high abrasion resistance and good UV resistance, which is beneficial to improving the practicability and broadening the application scope of superhydrophobic coatings.

As an excellent room temperature sensing material, polyaniline (PANI) needs to be further investigated in the field of high sensitivity and sustainable gas sensors due to its long recovery time and difficulty to complete recovery. The ZnO/PANI film with p‒n heterogeneous energy levels have successfully prepared by spraying ZnO nanorod synthesized by hydrothermal method on the PANI film rapidly synthesized at the gas‒liquid interface. The presence of p‒n heterogeneous energy levels enables the ZnO/PANI film to detect 0.1‒100 ppm (1 ppm = 10⁻⁶) NH₃ at room temperature with the response value to 100 ppm NH₃ doubled (12.96) and the recovery time shortened to 1/5 (31.2 s). The ability of high response and fast recovery makes the ZnO/PANI film to be able to detect NH₃ at room temperature continuously. It provides a new idea for PANI to prepare sustainable room temperature sensor and promotes the development of room temperature sensor in public safety.

An air superoleophobic/superhydrophilic composite coating with a unique structure was fabricated by oxidation and further modification of the copper mesh, and its design principle was clarified. This unique bird-nest-like configuration gives it instant superhydrophilicity due to the high surface roughness and high polar surface free energy components, while air superoleophobicity is caused by its extremely low dispersive surface free energy components. Furthermore, a water-resistance mechanism was proposed whereby a polyelectrolyte plays a critical role in improving the water-resistance of fluorosurfactants. It can separate oil–water mixtures with high efficiency (98.72%) and high flux (25185 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹), and can be reused. In addition, our composite coating had certain anti-acid, anti-alkali, anti-salt and anti-sand impact performance. More importantly, after being soaked in water for a long time or being exposed to the air for a long time, it still retained ultra-high air oil contact angle and showed excellent stability, which provided the possibility for practical applications. Thus, these findings offer the potential for significant practical applications in managing oily wastewater and marine oil spill incidents.

Herein, the rational design micromilieus involved silk fibroin (SF)-based materials have been used to encapsulate the osteoblasts, forming an extracellular coated shell on the cells, which exhibited the high potential to shift the regulation of osteoblasts to osteocytes by encapsulation cues. SF coating treated cells showed a change in cell morphology from osteoblasts-like to osteocytes-like shape compared with untreated ones. Moreover, the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), collagen I (Col I) and osteocalcin (OCN) further indicated a potential approach for inducing osteoblasts regulation, which typically accelerates calcium deposition and cell calcification, presenting a key role for the SF encapsulation in controlling osteoblasts behavior. This discovery showed that SF-based cell encapsulation could be used for osteoblasts behavior regulation, which offers a great potential to modulate mammalian cells’ phenotype involving alternating surrounding cues.

Currently, δ-MnO₂ is one of the popularly studied cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) but impeded by the sluggish kinetics of Zn²⁺ and the Mn cathode dissolution. Here, we report our discovery in the study of crystalline/amorphous MnO₂ (disordered MnO₂), prepared by a simple redox reaction in the order/disorder engineering. This disordered MnO₂ cathode material, having open framework with more active sites and more stable structure, shows improved electrochemical performance in 2 mol·L⁻¹ ZnSO₄/0.1 mol·L⁻¹ MnSO₄ aqueous electrolyte. It delivers an ultrahigh discharge specific capacity of 636 mA·h·g⁻¹ at 0.1 A·g⁻¹ and remains a large discharge capacity of 216 mA·h·g⁻¹ even at a high current density of 1 A·g⁻¹ after 400 cycles. Hence disordered MnO₂ could be a promising cathode material for aqueous ZIBs. The storage mechanism of the disordered MnO₂ electrode is also systematically investigated by structural and morphological examinations of ex situ, ultimately proving that the mechanism is the same as that of the δ-MnO₂ electrode. This work may pave the way for the possibility of using the order/disorder engineering to introduce novel properties in electrode materials for high-performance aqueous ZIBs.

Inorganic nanocarriers are potent candidates for delivering conventional anticancer drugs, nucleic acid-based therapeutics, and imaging agents, influencing their blood half-lives, tumor targetability, and bioactivity. In addition to the high surface area-to-volume ratio, they exhibit excellent scalability in synthesis, controllable shape and size, facile surface modification, inertness, stability, and unique optical and magnetic properties. However, only a limited number of inorganic nanocarriers have been so far approved for clinical applications due to burst drug release, poor target specificity, and toxicity. To overcome these barriers, understanding the principles involved in loading therapeutic and imaging molecules into these nanoparticles (NPs) and the strategies employed in enhancing sustainability and targetability of the resultant complexes and ensuring the release of the payloads in extracellular and intracellular compartments of the target site is of paramount importance. Therefore, we will shed light on various loading mechanisms harnessed for different inorganic NPs, particularly involving physical entrapment into porous/hollow nanostructures, ionic interactions with native and surface-modified NPs, covalent bonding to surface-functionalized nanomaterials, hydrophobic binding, affinity-based interactions, and intercalation through co-precipitation or anion exchange reaction.

Tungsten (W) has become the most promising plasma-facing material (PFM) in fusion reactor, and W still faces performance degradation caused by low-temperature brittleness, low recrystallization temperature, neutron irradiation effects, and plasma irradiation effects. The modification of W/W-based materials in terms of microstructure manipulation is needed, and such techniques to improve the performance of materials are the topics of hot research. Researchers have found that refining the grain can significantly improve the strength and the irradiation resistance of W/W-based materials. In this paper, novel approaches and technique routes, including the “bottom-up” powder metallurgy method and “top-down” severe plastic deformation method, are introduced to the fabrication of nanocrystalline W/W-based materials. The formation mechanisms of nanocrystalline W/W-based materials were revealed, and the nanostructure stabilization mechanisms were introduced. The mechanical properties of nanocrystalline W/W-based materials were tested, and the irradiation behaviors and performances were studied. The mechanisms of their high mechanical properties and excellent irradiation-damage resistance were illustrated. This article may provide an experimental and theoretical basis for the design and development of high-performance novel nanocrystalline W/W-based materials.

Porosity parameters are one of the structural properties of the extracellular microenvironment that have been shown to have a great impact on the cellular phenotype and various biological activities such as diffusion of fluid, initial protein adsorption, permeability, cell penetration and migration, ECM deposition, angiogenesis, and rate and pattern of new tissue formation. The heterogeneity of the study protocols and research methodologies do not allow reliable meta-analysis for definite findings. As such, despite the huge available literature, no generally accepted consensus is defined for the porosity requirements of specific tissue engineering applications. However, based on the biomimetic approach, the biological substitutes should replicate the 3D local microenvironment of the recipient site with matching porosity parameters to best support local cells during tissue regeneration. Ideally, the porosity of biomaterials should mimic the porosity of the substituting natural tissue and match the clinical requirements. Careful analysis of the impact of architectures (i.e., porosity) on biophysical, biochemical, and biological behaviors will support designing smart biomaterials with customized architectural and functional properties that are patient and defect site-specific.

A unique family of renewable polymers has been constructed through facile chemical and physical approaches. In viewing of the abundant and renewable characteristics of starch, cellulose, chitosan and alginate, they are adopted as starting materials. Lactic acid and carbon dioxide, which can be regarded as derivates of starch, are also adopted as starting materials since both of them are abundant, non-toxic and renewable. For sake of making the intension to be carried out easily, the applied chemical or physical approaches are as facile as possible. After two decades of effort, a variety of polymers with versatile properties such as improved mechanical strength, good adsorption or loading capacity and various intelligent behaviors have been tailor-made. These polymers are designed systematically instead of obtaining at random. Herein, our ideas and the strategies for developing the polysaccharide-based renewable polymers are elucidated. It is expected that what presented in this article could stimulate more ideas to develop renewable polymers and bring brighter prospect of the polysaccharide-family.

Superamphiphobic surfaces have attracted the attention of researchers because of their broad application prospects. Currently, superamphiphobicity is primarily achieved by minimizing the solid–liquid contact area. Over the past few decades, researchers have primarily focused on using physical deposition methods to construct superamphiphobic surfaces using fine-sized nanoparticles (< 100 nm). However, porous hollow SiO₂ particles (PH-SiO₂), which are typically large spheres, have a highly hierarchical structure and can provide lower solid–liquid contact fractions than those provided by fine-sized particles. In this study, we used PH-SiO₂ as building blocks and combined them with poly (dimethylsiloxane) to construct a mechanically robust coating on fiber by spray-coating. After chemical vapor deposition treatment, the coating exhibited excellent superamphiphobicity and could repel various liquids, covering a wide range of surface tensions (27.4–72.0 mN·m⁻¹).

Chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond as a burgeoning multi-functional material with tailored quality and characteristics can be artificially synthesized and controlled for various applications. Correspondingly, the application-related “grade” concept associated with materials choice and design was gradually formulated, of which the availability and the performance are optimally suited. In this review, the explicit diversity of CVD diamond and the clarification of typical grades for applications, i.e., from resplendent gem-grade to promising quantum-grade, were systematically summarized and discussed, according to the crystal quality and main consideration of ubiquitous nitrogen impurity content as well as major applications. Realizations of those, from quantum-grade with near-ideal crystal to electronic-grade having extremely low imperfections and then to optical, thermal as well as mechanical-grade needing controlled flaws and allowable impurities, would competently fulfill the multi-field application prospects with appropriate choice in terms of cost and quality. Exceptionally, wide range defects and impurities in the gem-grade diamond (only indicating single crystal), which are detrimental for technology applications, endows CVD crystals with fancy colors to challenge their natural counterparts.

A hydrophilic hyperbranched polyester (poly (tetramethylol acetylenediurea (TA)-CO-succinyl chloride) (PTS)) was proposed to be used as an organic additive in aqueous ZnSO₄ electrolyte to achieve a highly reversible zinc/manganese oxide battery. It is found that the zinc symmetric battery based on the 2.0 wt.% PTS/ZnSO₄ electrolyte showed a long cycle stability of more than 2400 h at 1.0 mA·cm⁻², which is much longer than that including the blank ZnSO₄ electrolyte (140 h). Furthermore, the capacity retention of the Zn||MnO₂ full cells employing the 2.0 wt.% PTS/ZnSO₄ electrolyte remained 85% after 100 cycles at 0.2 A·g⁻¹, which is much higher than 20% capacity retention of the cell containing the blank ZnSO₄ electrolyte, and also greater than 59.6% capacity retention of the cell including the 10.0 wt.% TA/ZnSO₄ electrolyte. By using 2.0 wt.% PTS/ZnSO₄ electrolytes, the capacity retention of the Zn||MnO₂ full cells even reached 65% after 2000 cycles at a higher current density of 1.0 A·g⁻¹. It is further demonstrated that the PTS was firmly adsorbed on the zinc anode surface to form a protective layer.

A reliable and efficient solution to the current energy crisis and its associated environmental issues is provided by fuel cells, metal–air batteries and overall water splitting. The heart reactions for these technologies are oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Different supporters such as graphene, carbon nanotube, and graphitic carbon nitride have been used to avoid agglomeration of active materials and provide maximum active surface for these reactions. Among all the supporters, boron nitride (BN) gains extensive research attention due to its analogue with graphene and excellent stability with good oxidation and chemical inertness. In this mini-review, the well-known strategies (exfoliation, annealing, and CVD) used in the synthesis of BN with different morphologies for HER, OER and ORR applications have been briefly debated and summarized. The comparative analysis determines that the performance and stability of state-of-the-art electrocatalysts can be further boosted if they are deposited on BN. It is revealed that BN-based catalysts for HER, OER and ORR are rarely studied yet especially with non-noble transition metals, and this research direction should be studied deeply in future for practical applications.

The incorporation of mechanophores, motifs that transform mechanical stimulus into chemical reaction or optical variation, allows creating materials with stress-responsive properties. The most widely used mechanophore generally features a weak bond, but its cleavage is typical an irreversible process. Here, we showed that this problem can be solved by folding–unfolding of a molecular tweezer. We systematically studied the mechanochromic properties of polyurethanes with cyano-substituted oligo(p-phenylene) vinylene (COP) tweezer (DPU). As a control experiment, a class of polyurethanes containing only a single COP moiety (MPU) was also prepared. The DPU showed prominent mechanochromic properties, due to the intramolecular folding–unfolding of COP tweezer under mechanical stimulus. The process was efficient, reversible and optical detectable. However, due to the disability to form either intramolecular folding or intermolecular aggregation, the MPU sample was mechanical inert.

Recently, alcohols have attracted more attention due to their excellent tribological performance, especially superlubricity under low loads. Alcohol solution, as a liquid lubricant, can easily reach the superlubricity state under low loads because of the formed low shear hydroxylation interfaces induced by the tribochemical reactions. A general picture and its influencing factors have been elucidated, not only at the macroscopic scale but also at the nanoscale, which is sufficient to provide effective guidance for lubrication design and tribology research in engineering. Herein, we provide a review on the recent applications of alcohols in lubrication. In addition, the material transformation caused by alcohols in friction is a key factor affecting the tribological properties. As an important two-dimensional material, the growth mechanisms of graphene are variable, and the most famous is the formation of carbon radicals under the action of metal catalysts. Thus, based on the formation mechanism of carbon friction film (such as amorphous carbon and graphene), the main content of this review also includes the transformation of graphene in alcohol solution friction process.

ZnO-based photocatalytic materials have received widespread attention due to their usefulness than other photocatalytic materials in organic dye wastewater treatment. However, its photocatalytic efficiency and surface stability limit further applicability. This paper uses a one-step carbonization method to prepare multifunctional ZnO/carbon hybrid nanofiber mats. The carbonization creates a π-conjugated carbonaceous structure of the mats, which prolongs the electron recovery time of ZnO nanoparticles to yield improved photocatalytic efficiency. Further, the carbonization reduces the fiber diameter of the carbon hybrid nanofiber mats, which quadruples the specific surface area to yield enhanced adsorption and photocatalytic performance. At the same time, the prepared nanofiber mats can increase the evaporation rate of water under solar irradiation to a level of 1.46 kg·m⁻²·h⁻¹ with an efficiency of 91.9%. Thus, the nanofiber mats allow the facile incorporation of photocatalysts to clean contaminated water through adsorption, photodegradation, and interfacial heat-assisted distillation mechanisms.

Carbon–molybdenum disulfide (C–MoS₂) ultrathin nanosheets were prepared by a hydrothermal process, and then AgI/C–MoS₂ were synthesized via an in-situ deposition method. This ternary heterojunction composite exhibited better photocatalytic activity compared with those of one-component (pristine MoS₂) and bi-component (AgI/MoS₂ and C–MoS₂) materials for the degradation of organic dyes under the visible-light irradiation. In particular, by comparing with AgI/MoS₂, the significant role of conductive amorphous carbon in AgI/C–MoS₂ in enhancing the charge transfer during the photocatalytic degradation of dyes was first confirmed by photocurrent response and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed based on the capture experiment results. Furthermore, a straightforward and interesting way had been applied to test the recycled/newly-prepared AgI/C–MoS₂ composite for revealing its distinctive self-cleaning performance and recyclability characteristic besides its good photocatalytic activity. This work could provide a reference for the design of other new ternary heterojunction composite materials with special structures and properties.

Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) are widely used in the construction of drug and gene delivery vectors because of their particular physicochemical properties. Surface modification can not only reduce the cytotoxicity of Fe₃O₄, but also further improve the biocompatibility and delivery efficiency. In this work, firstly, polydopamine (PDA)-coated Fe₃O₄ NPs (named Fe₃O₄@PDA) were prepared by using the self-polymerization characteristics of dopamine in alkaline environment. Then, polyamidoamine (PAMAM) was modified by the Michael addition reaction to prepare water-soluble core‒shell magnetic NPs of Fe₃O₄@PDA@PAMAM, and its potential as gene vector was further evaluated. The results revealed that Fe₃O₄@PDA@PAMAM had the ability to condense and protect DNA, and showed lower cytotoxicity, higher cell uptake and transfection efficiency than those of PAMAM. It has the potential to become a magnetic targeted gene vector for further study.

The preparation of large-scale Cu‒Al‒Ni shape memory alloys with excellent microstructure and texture is a significant challenge in this field. In this study, large-scale Cu‒Al‒Ni shape memory alloy (SMA) slabs with good surface quality and strong orientation were prepared by the horizontal continuous casting (HCC). The microstructure and mechanical properties were compared with the ordinary casting (OC) Cu‒Al‒Ni alloy. The results showed that the microstructure of OC Cu‒Al‒Ni alloy was equiaxed grains with randomly orientation, which had no obvious superelasticity. The alloys produced by HCC had herringbone grains with strong orientation near〈1 0 0〉and the cumulative tensile superelasticity of 4.58%. The superelasticity of the alloy produced by HCC has been improved by 4‒5 times. This work has preliminarily realized the production of large-scale Cu‒Al‒Ni SMA slab with good superelasticity, which lays a foundation for expanding the industrial production and application of Cu-based SMAs.

In this work, a high-performance fiber strain sensor is fabricated by constructing a double percolated structure, consisting of carbon nanotube (CNT)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) continuous phase and styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) phase, incompatible with TPU (CNT/TPU@SBS). Compared with other similar fiber strain sensor systems without double percolated structure, the CNT/TPU@SBS sensor achieves a lower percolation threshold (0.38 wt.%) and higher electrical conductivity. The conductivity of 1%-CNT/TPU@SBS (4.12×10⁻³ S·m⁻¹) is two orders of magnitude higher than that of 1%-CNT/TPU (3.17×10⁻⁵ S·m⁻¹) at the same CNT loading of 1 wt.%. Due to double percolated structure, the 1%-CNT/TPU@SBS sensor exhibits a wide strain detection range (0.2%–100%) and an ultra-high sensitivity (maximum gauge factor (GF) is 32411 at 100% strain). Besides, the 1%-CNT/TPU@SBS sensor shows a high linearity (R² = 0.97) at 0%–20% strain, relatively fast response time (214 ms), and stability (500 loading/unloading cycles). The designed sensor can efficiently monitor physiological signals and movements and identify load distribution after being woven into a sensor array, showing broad application prospects in wearable electronics.

Sn-based materials are considered as a kind of potential anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical capacity. However, their use is limited by large volume expansion deriving from the lithiation/delithiation process. In this work, amorphous Sn modified nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets (ASn-NPCNs) are obtained. The synergistic effect of amorphous Sn and high edge-nitrogen-doped level porous carbon nanosheets provides ASn-NPCNs with multiple advantages containing abundant defect sites, high specific surface area (214.9 m²·g⁻¹), and rich hierarchical pores, which can promote the lithium-ion storage. Serving as the LIB anode, the as-prepared ASn-NPCNs-750 electrode exhibits an ultrahigh capacity of 1643 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.1 A·g⁻¹, ultrafast rate performance of 490 mAh·g⁻¹ at 10 A·g⁻¹, and superior long-term cycling performance of 988 mAh·g⁻¹ at 1 A·g⁻¹ after 2000 cycles with a capacity retention of 98.9%. Furthermore, the in-depth electrochemical kinetic test confirms that the ultrahigh-capacity and fast-charging performance of the ASn-NPCNs-750 electrode is ascribed to the rapid capacitive mechanism. These impressive results indicate that ASn-NPCNs-750 can be a potential anode material for high-capacity and fast-charging LIBs.

Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) with independently controlled period, porosity, and height is used as the model surface to study the single structural parameter effect on breast cancer cell behaviors, including cell polarity and cell viability. It is found that the quantity of multipolar cells and cell viability increases as the nanodent period increases from 100 to 300 nm, while the number of bipolar cells has almost no change until there is a dramatic decrease as the period increases to 300 nm. After anodizing nanodents into nanopores, the numbers of both bipolar cells and the cell viability increase significantly with the porosity increase. However, as the porosity further increases and the nanopore changes into a nanocone pillar, most of the cells become nonpolar spheres and the cell viability decreases. Increasing the height of the nanocone pillar has little effect on the cell polarity; the cell viability increases slightly with the increase of the nanocone pillar height. These results reveal the influence of individual nanostructure parameters on the cell behavior, especially the cell polarity and the cell viability, which can help to design the surface to make the cell grow as desired.