Nanomaterials (NMs) have garnered decades of research interest owing to their unique physicochemical properties and unparalleled advantages in diverse applications. However, these distinctive characteristics simultaneously raise concerns regarding their biosafety. Recent advancements in understanding NMs–organism interactions have led to innovative strategies for mitigating their intrinsic toxicity. Notably, emerging studies reveal that through rational design and precise manipulation, the inherent toxicological effects of NMs can be strategically repurposed for cancer therapeutics. For instance, functionalized NMs may disrupt oxidative homeostasis, activate programmed cell death pathways, modulate immune responses, or regulate ion channel activities. Despite these promising discoveries, the systematic exploitation of NMs-induced biological responses in oncological interventions remains underexplored. Therefore, this review provides, for the first time, a comprehensive introduction to NM-mediated biological process modulation, focusing on their mechanisms and therapeutic potential in cancer treatment. We have summarized (1) key pathways through which NMs elicit cytotoxic effects, including redox homeostasis regulation, immunogenic cell death activation, and so on; (2) design principles for engineering NMs with controllable bio-interactions; and (3) innovative applications leveraging NM-triggered physical effects (e.g., photothermal conversion, reactive oxygen species generation) as targeted therapeutic modalities. Furthermore, we also highlight the translational significance of harnessing NM-specific bioactivities while discussing current challenges in clinical adaptation and possible solutions. By bridging the gap between nanotoxicology and therapeutic innovation, this manuscript offers novel perspectives for developing next-generation nanomedicine platforms with enhanced efficacy and safety profiles.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an irreversible and fatal lung disease characterized by persistent alveolar epithelial cell injury and extracellular matrix deposition. Early dual modulation of oxidative stress and inflammation may offer a promising therapeutic opportunity. Mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) offer therapeutic promise but face challenges in scalability and efficient lung delivery. Here, we developed a biomimetic extracellular vesicle-spherical nucleic acid (BEV-SNA) platform for IPF therapy. BEV-SNA were constructed by integrating mechanically extruded BEVs from primary MSCs with cholesterol-modified ssDNA through hydrophobic co-assembly. In stemness-maintained P0-P1 MSCs, the production of BEVs increased by 17.2-fold compared to natural EVs. Benefiting from a three-dimensionally dense and negatively charged DNA shell, BEV-SNA reduce airway adhesion, enabling deep pulmonary delivery and efficient cellular uptake. In IPF models, BEV-SNA demonstrated multiphase therapeutic effects, including protection of alveolar epithelial cells from ROS, anti-inflammatory activity, and late-stage anti-fibrotic action, effectively halting fibrosis progression and achieving a 50% survival rate in mice. This study presents a novel therapeutic platform combining the natural biomimicry of EVs with the functional adaptability of SNAs, proposing an innovative strategy for pulmonary drug delivery and the treatment of respiratory diseases.

Organic fluorescent materials (OFMs), characterized by their unique molecular structures and exceptional optical properties, have demonstrated significant potential in diverse applications such as bioimaging, sensors, and display technologies. Nevertheless, the reliance on chemists' intuition and experience in the traditional design of OFMs, coupled with the high cost and lack of scalability of conventional methods such as fluorescence detection and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, makes it difficult to keep up with the rapid development of the field. The advent of machine learning (ML) has introduced transformative possibilities, enabling data-driven exploration of the intricate relationships between molecular structures and fluorescence properties. Herein, we review the applications of ML in the innovative design of OFMs with an emphasis on the workflow of modeling, optical property prediction, and OFM design. We also discuss the critical role of data curation and feature engineering in enhancing model performance. Our review provides an overview of commonly used models and assesses their efficacy. We critically examine key challenges such as database construction, model interpretability, and generalization ability, trying to provide a comprehensive framework that advances the integration of ML in the research of organic fluorescent materials, thereby facilitating the development of next-generation materials.

Photocatalysis is a renewable and eco-friendly process with great potential for the purification of ciprofloxacin (CIP) in water. However, conventional methods tend to focus on the design of photocatalysts, which pays less attention to the photothermal performance, resulting in a limited purification rate. Here, we propose a photothermal-photocatalytic textile based on carbon fiber felts decorated with homogeneous titanium dioxide films to efficiently purify CIP in water. The carbon fiber felts decorated with titanium dioxide films show high solar absorption (∼93 %) for solar water evaporation and simultaneous photocatalytic degradation for CIP purification. Notably, the enhancement of local wettability by titanium dioxide films on carbon fiber felts promotes photothermal efficiency. The carbon fiber felts decorated with titanium dioxide films demonstrate an evaporation rate of 1.19 kg m⁻² h⁻¹, achieving an efficiency of 72.5 % under 1 sun. The experimental results reveal that the local thermal effect can effectively enhance catalytic degradation. CIP is almost completely degraded under sunlight, whereas the degradation efficiency under UV light is 55.8%. Specifically, we observe that CIP can be effectively degraded in purified water and condensed water. Moreover, the carbon fiber felts decorated with titanium dioxide films exhibit multidirectional degradation performance and stable physical and chemical properties, maintaining stable photothermal and photocatalytic performance even after prolonged sunlight exposure and repeated use. This work provides a paradigm for harnessing the abundant sunlight for antibiotic degradation.

Confinement of fluorescent dyes is known to enhance fluorescence properties by reducing aggregation and restricting molecular motion, but few studies have attempted to modulate the extent of confinement. In this work, we explored extreme confinement by exploiting the rigid structure of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Other than the commonly known restriction of peripheral substituents in fluorescent molecules for aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-like effects, the more powerful confinement surprisingly led to buckling of the chromophore core, leading to reduced fluorescence lifetime. We name these effects buckling-induced quenching (BIQ). By studying 14 dyes in zeolitic-imidazolate framework 8 (ZIF8), we systematically analyzed their confined behaviors, establishing strong correlations: The reduction of chromophore planarity always leads to a decrease of fluorescence lifetimes, whereas reduction in the longest dimension of the confined molecule, while maintaining chromophore planarity, always leads to an increased lifetime. Confinement in the larger cavities of ZIF71 leads to signs of alleviation, in good agreement with our hypotheses. The BIQ effects provide an important complement for the well-known confinement effects, and the extreme confinement serves also as an important reference for more subtle effects in various applications.

Bacterial infection-induced acute sinusitis is prevalent and can easily progress into chronic sinusitis, which is often difficult to treat due to the challenging nature of the site, increased environmental pollution, and bacterial drug resistance prevalent nowadays. To address these challenges, a flexible hydrogel (LM@P/S@CP@Hemin) that involves flexible wood-modified logs, photoactive conjugated polymers, an immunomodulator, and an immobilization hydrogel was prepared for nasal cavity treatment. The flexible wood-modified logs provide mechanical strength support. In vitro, experiments verified that the hydrogel could efficiently induce the photothermal effect under near-infrared-II laser irradiation after deeply penetrating bone and produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) to initiate the photodynamic effect for synergetically eliminating bacteria. The introduction of hemin endows LM@P/S@CP@Hemin hydrogel with a strong immunomodulatory effect on macrophages to achieve anti-inflammation and cellular ROS clearance abilities, which avoids the excessive oxidative stress in the nasal cavity. The results showed that the hydrogel induced an anti-bacterial effect with a 98.5% inhibition rate against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, hadexcellent clearance ability of excessive ROS, and promoted anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage generation to relieve inflammation. Meanwhile, transcriptome sequencing and mRNA level measurements revealed that the hydrogel could regulate inflammatory-related genes. In vivo, bacterial infection-induced acute sinusitis rabbit model experiments and histological analysis further confirmed the great therapeutic effect of LM@P/S@CP@Hemin for acute sinusitis based on photothermal and photodynamic therapy. Therefore, LM@P/S@CP@Hemin is an excellent therapeutic material that can adapt to the nasal environment and treat acute sinusitis.

Traditional fluorescence immunoassays are often hindered by false negatives or quantification inaccuracies, especially at high target concentrations, due to the aggregation-caused quenching effect of fluorescent indicators. This study introduces a novel fluorescence immunoassay strategy that leverages the spontaneous amino-yne click reaction to covalently assemble activated alkyne-based luminogens with aggregation-induced emission characteristics (AIEgens) onto the surface of bifunctional M13 bacteriophages, thereby facilitating efficient “lighting-up” fluorescence signal output in conjunction with magnetic-mediated immunorecognition. To further enhance the load of activated alkyne-based AIEgens and improve the fluorescence “lighting-up” efficiency, M13 bacteriophages were engineered to display varying numbers of surface-exposed lysine residues. This was achieved by inserting different quantities of lysines between the signal peptide and the amino acid sequence of the pVIII protein via a point mutation strategy. Benefiting from the synergy of AIEgen stacking-enhanced fluorescence output and M13 bacteriophage-driven signal amplification, the developed “lighting-up” immunoassay enabled highly sensitive and rapid detection of targets, from small molecules to pathogenic microorganisms. This work provides valuable insights into the design of “lighting-up” AIEgens for enhancing fluorescence immunoassays. Moreover, the proposed strategy offers great versatility, allowing it to be readily adapted to detect other targets simply by pairing the target with the M13 bacteriophages.

Point-contact spectroscopy has been utilized to study SmFeAsO, the parent compound of the “1111” iron superconductors. A bias voltage drives the point contact through antiferromagnetic and structural transitions via the ballistic Joule heating effect. Surprisingly, the bias voltage also induces a hysteretic conductance only in the temperature range of the nematic order, while there is no such behavior in the temperature-dependent resistance. The larger the maximum bias voltage, the bigger the conductance changes in the hysteresis, but always exclusively in the nematic order regime. The voltage-driven conductance hysteresis, which is not affected by a magnetic field of 5 T, suggests the nematic order in the SmFeAsO sample may be from an electronic origin and can be controlled by a voltage.

Designing new materials with high-performance resistive switching (RS) behaviors and/or developing alternative means to modulate the RS behaviors are of great significance for information storage and neuromorphic computing. Herein, we present a novel strategy to design and synthesize furan-annulated naphthalenes for high-performance digital and analog RS behaviors through controlling substituents. By introducing an electron acceptor of trifluoromethyl on the phenyl ring, 3-phenyl-4-(4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-2H-naphtho[1,8-bc]furan (TPNF) is synthesized with donor–acceptor (D–A) pairs by utilizing the electron donor of furyl in the naphthalene. Owing to the constructed D–A systems where electrons can be transported under the external bias voltage, the prepared TPNF thin films demonstrate high-performance bipolar digital RS behaviors with multilevel storage characteristics. On the other hand, if the substituent on the phenyl ring is replaced by an electron donor of methoxy, 4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-phenyl-2H-naphtho[1,8-bc]furan (MPNF) can be constructed with only electron-donor units of furyl and methoxy. The fabricated MPNF thin films show analog RS behaviors owing to the carrier trapping/detrapping from the nucleophilic trapping sites generated from the electron-donor units. The analog memristors demonstrate synaptic functions with high linearity of conductance modulation, which is highly desirable for neuromorphic computing. Such synaptic memristors based on MPNF are completely capable of recognizing digit images with high accuracy (95.2%) and implementing decimal arithmetic of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operations. This study provides a feasible way to modulate the RS properties by the strategy of introducing different substituents, demonstrating promising applications of such well-designed organic semiconductors for multilevel storage and neuromorphic computing.

Organic luminescent radicals are promising for optoelectronic applications, yet their practical implementation remains hindered by aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) in aggregated states. In this study, we present a molecular design strategy that enables unprecedented intrinsic luminescence from pure radicals across multiple aggregated states, including crystalline states, powders, and amorphous films, through the incorporation of sterically demanding TPP (2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl) groups. Comprehensive photophysical characterization coupled with structural analysis reveals that the TPP moieties effectively suppress detrimental intermolecular interactions, particularly exchange coupling and π–π stacking between radical centers. The luminescent properties were analyzed via systematic theoretical calculations. The universality of this design principle is further demonstrated through its successful application to diradical systems, including Chichibabin's and Müller's hydrocarbons, which exhibit significantly enhanced emission in aggregated states. This work establishes a generalizable strategy for designing stable and efficient luminescent radicals in aggregated states, opening new avenues for radical-based optoelectronic devices.

Minimizing energy loss (E_loss) to achieve high open-circuit voltage (V_OC) is essential for improving the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs). In addition to non-fullerene acceptors, aggregation-caused quenching in linear polymer donors also contributes to E_loss. Although polymer donors with strong aggregation characteristics are beneficial for enhancing crystallinity and improving charge transport, such strong aggregation often leads to increased non-radiative recombination losses (ΔE₃). Therefore, precisely optimizing crystallinity and aggregation is essential for reducing E_loss while maintaining efficient charge mobility. Here, we designed and synthesized a series of wide-bandgap polymer donors (P1–P6) based on chlorinated benzodithiophene (BDT) donor unit and diester-functionalized thieno[3,2-b]thiophene acceptor moiety (TT-Th). By systematically optimizing the alkyl side chains on both the BDT and ester-thiophene units, we achieved precise control over pre-aggregation behavior. Our results demonstrate that extending the side chains on the TT-Th unit progressively reduces polymer pre-aggregation and ΔE₃, but simultaneously weakens crystallinity and increases π–π stacking distance, thereby compromising charge transport. Among P1–P5, P4 with 2-butyloctyl side chains exhibited the best balance between pre-aggregation and ΔE₃, yielding the highest efficiency. Further optimization by shortening the BDT side chain to 2-ethylhexyl in P6 moderately enhanced both pre-aggregation and crystallinity. Although this led to a slight V_OC reduction, the improved charge transport properties enabled a champion efficiency of 15.74% with a low ΔE₃ of 0.22 eV. Notably, the efficiency of 15.74% is one of the highest values reported for D-A alternating polymers based on ester-bithiophene units. This work present an effective strategy to optimize pre-aggregation and crystallinity, offering valuable insights into reducing E_loss and enhancing OSC performance.

Developing high voltage lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO₂, LCO) is crucial for attaining the enhanced capacity and energy density of lithium-ion batteries. However, severe interface and structural instability lead to rapid degradation of LCO under the condition of high voltage. Herein, a successful strategy for modifying the interface of LCO is developed using a one-step high temperature process. By coating LCO with Li₃TiMg(PO₄)₃ (LTMP), the obtained phosphate can stabilize the surface crystal structure and boost the mechanical stability of LCO. The high temperature process enables the successful doping of Ti/Mg into the LCO lattice, effectively inhibiting the harmful phase transition effect across various voltage ranges. Compared to commercial LCO and the reported studies, the modified LCO@LTMP performs outstanding electrochemical performance. It delivers an initial discharge specific capacity of 216.4 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.1 C and 189.98 mAh·g⁻¹ at 1 C. After 250 cycles at 1 C, it preserves 87.46% of its initial capacity, manifesting excellent cycling stability. Moreover, it provides a discharge specific capacity of 115.9 mAh·g⁻¹ at 5 C, demonstrating outstanding rate performance. This work holds great potential for practical applications and offers valuable guidance for developing other high performance cathode materials in rechargeable batteries.

Underwater blue-emitting X-ray scintillator is important for the resource exploration and communication in deep sea, but remains a significant challenge for perovskites. Herein, we proposed a universal Pb²⁺-doping strategy toward a family of stable 0D Zn halide A_nZnBr₄ realizing highly efficient blue-emitting scintillation. First-principles calculations indicate that doped-Pb²⁺ introduced extremely narrow impurity bands, which prompt more carriers into conduction bands, leading to near-unity PLQY. Meanwhile, these halides can withstand complex aqueous solutions containing various chemical substances in wide pH range (1–14) demonstrating ultrahigh water-resistance stabilities. More significantly, these halides exhibit satisfactory scintillation and imaging performance with highest light yield (31,500 photons MeV⁻¹), low detection limit (141.2 nGy_air s⁻¹) and large spatial resolution (15.10 lp/mm), ranking among the top-performing Zn halide scintillators reported to date. The high water-resistance stabilities and satisfactory scintillation performance endow these halides advanced underwater X-ray imaging. This work not only provides a universal strategy to explore highly-efficient blue-emitting perovskite scintillators, but also realizes application of high-resolution X-ray imaging in underwater environment.

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is not only considered a key strategy for effectively enhancing the luminescence of atomically precise metal nanoclusters (MNCs) but can also broaden their applications. However, the synthesis of MNCs with AIE performance still poses significant challenges. Herein, a strategy of specific-site “surgery” was employed to tailor surface motifs of Au₂₄(SR)₂₀ NC by a two-step ligand-exchange method, in which the outmost two Au₄S₅ motifs were tailored into two S─Au─P and two P atoms, resulting in an [Au₁₈(TBBT)₁₂(TFPP)₄]²⁺ NC (where TBBT is 4-tert-butylphenthiophenol, TFPP is tri-(4-fluorophenyl) phosphine) with the Au₈@(Au₄S₅)₂(SAuP)₂P₂ construction. This precise surgery endows this Au₁₈ NC with dual emission (645 and 810 nm) in the aggregated state but no emission in the soluble solution at room temperature. Furthermore, the AIE photophysical behavior was systematically studied through a combination of experimental and theoretical investigations. The results reveal that the high-energy emission band (645 nm) primarily originates from the restricted intramolecular rotation and vibration of surface ligands and motifs. In contrast, the low-energy emission at 810 nm is predominantly attributed to intermolecular interactions in the aggregated state. Benefiting from its distinct AIE characteristics, the Au₁₈ NC shows excellent potential as a high-performance fluorescent probe for lysosome-targeted bioimaging. This work presents a novel approach for constructing AIE-active MNCs, paving the way for their future biological applications.

Concurrent imaging of skin inflammation and neovascularization is crucial for diagnosing and monitoring skin conditions, especially in flap transplantation. However, current imaging modalities in the clinic are often non-intuitive, have low resolution, or lack the ability to specifically target skin inflammation. Given that albumin can serve as a biomarker for the disruption of skin-vessel barrier (SVB), probes targeting skin inflammation typically need to specifically bind to endogenous albumin, which often results in high background signals. In this study, we screen a series of near-infrared (NIR) dyes for their in vivo covalent binding capabilities with endogenous albumin, and identify the optimal dye for achieving high-contrast imaging of skin inflammation in models of SVB disruption, with minimal interference from other tissues or organs (e.g., skin and muscle). Moreover, by utilizing an albumin-targeting dye with another albumin-escaping NIR-II dye with a non-overlapping emission wavelength, this work explores the concurrent imaging of skin inflammation and neovascularization after flap transplantation, affording to simultaneously assess skin inflammation and the restoration of blood supply.

Designing starch-based foods with controlled digestibility is critical for addressing global health challenges like diabetes, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying starch–protein interactions remain poorly quantified. Here, we investigate how wheat starch (WS) interacts with distinct protein fractions—wheat globulin (Glo), gliadin (Gli), and glutelin (Glu)—to form molecular aggregates that modulate digestion. By integrating experimental analyses (FTIR, XRD, rheology) with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we demonstrate that Gli and Glu exhibit stronger non-covalent binding to starch than Glo, driven by hydrophobic forces and hydrogen bonding. These interactions disrupt starch chain entanglement, reduce short- and long-range structural order, and inhibit α-amylase activity. At a 50:9 starch-to-protein ratio, Gli and Glu increased resistant starch content by 6.74% and 6.91%, respectively, outperforming Glo (2.96%). MD simulations quantified binding free energies (−107.67 kcal/mol for Gli, −99.50 kcal/mol for Glu), revealing electrostatic contributions from Glu's lysine/arginine residues and hydrophobic interactions in Gli. Notably, Glo and Glu synergistically inhibit amylase via mixed competitive/non-competitive mechanisms. This work establishes a predictive framework for starch–protein aggregate design, bridging molecular interactions to functional outcomes. By elucidating how protein composition dictates digestibility, we advance strategies for engineering low-glycemic-index foods, offering transformative potential for nutrition and food science.

Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) based electrolytes have garnered considerable attention in all-solid-state lithium metal batteries with superior safety and energy density, but suffer from low-ion conductivity and poor cycling stability. Herein, a novel in-situ functional crosslinking strategy is proposed to overcome these limitations simultaneously, where a two-in-one bis-diazirine molecule (C1) is not only used as a rigid cross-linker, but also functions as an electron-withdrawing inducer. Benefitting from such an integration of two functionalities into one cross-linker, a rigid PEO electrolyte network can be facilely constructed, while exhibiting disrupted crystallization, robust mechanical strength, loosened Li─O binding to boost the Li⁺ transport, and anion-rich Li⁺ coordinated structure to favor the generation of a stable LiF-rich solid electrolyte interface. As a result, a remarkable ion conductivity of 1.4 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ is achieved at 60°C together with a Li⁺ transference number of 0.63. And the corresponding LiFePO₄||Li and NCM811||Li filled batteries present significantly improved rate performance and capacity retention cycling life compared with the pristine PEO electrolyte, highlighting the great potential of in-situ functional crosslinking for high performance all-solid-state batteries.

Lysosomal iron overload, resulting from dysregulated ferritinophagy, is a significant early event in the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). This condition causes iron accumulation within cells, triggering oxidative stress and ferroptosis, along with mitochondrial dysfunction and α-synuclein (α-syn) aggregation, ultimately damaging dopaminergic neurons irreversibly. However, tools for real-time monitoring of Fe³⁺ dynamics in vivo are limited. In this study, we introduce TPE-4B/4Q[7], a supramolecular fluorescent probe designed for selective and stable tracking of Fe³⁺ changes within lysosomes. This probe exhibits excellent photostability, low cytotoxicity, and a detection limit of 1.23 × 10⁻⁶ M. In cellular models of PD, TPE-4B/4Q[7] effectively monitors lysosomal ferritinophagy-induced Fe³⁺ overload, allowing for the assessment of oxidative stress, mitochondrial function, and the levels of key biomarkers such as α-syn and tyrosine hydroxylase. Additionally, this probe can track iron accumulation linked to neurodegenerative lesions in Caenorhabditis elegans and MPTP-induced PD mouse models, with signal changes correlating closely with neurodegenerative phenotypes and molecular pathology. Notably, TPE-4B/4Q[7] enables non-invasive brain imaging via nasal delivery. TPE-4B/4Q[7] is a sensitive molecular indicator for early risk assessment and monitoring of PD progression. It is anticipated to be an effective instrument for the early diagnosis of PD.