Unclear biological fate hampers the clinical translation of nanoparticles for biomedical uses. In recent years, it is documented that the formation of protein corona upon nanoparticles is a critical factor leading to the ambiguous biological fate. Efforts have been made to explore the protein corona forming behaviors on nanoparticles, and rearrangement of the relevant studies will help to understand the current trend of such a topic. In this work, the publications about protein corona of nanoparticles in Science Citation Index Expanded database of Web of Science from 2007 to 2020 (1417 in total) were analyzed in detail, and the bibliometrics landscape of them was showcased. The basic bibliometrics characteristics were summarized to provide an overall understanding. Citation analysis was performed to scrutinize the peer interests of these papers. The research hotspots in the field were evaluated, based on which some feasible topics for future studies were proposed. In general, the results demonstrated that protein corona of nanoparticles was a prospective research area, and had attracted global research interests. It was believed that this work could comprehensively highlight the bibliometrics landscape, inspire further exploitation on protein corona of nanoparticles, and ultimately promote the clinical translation of nanoparticles.
Water–solid triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), as new energy collection devices, have attracted increasing attention in ocean energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. Polyacrylic acid (PAA) coating, usually used on the surface of marine equipment, has the property of anti-aging and anti-wear but limits triboelectrical output when used with TENGs. In this paper, polyacrylic acid coating was modified with fluorinated polyacrylate resin (F-PAA) to increase its triboelectrical output, by 6 times, and also to increase its anti-corrosion property. In addition, the corrosion resistance property can be further enhanced by cathodic protection using the electrical output generated by the water-flow triboelectrical energy transfer process. Given their easy fabrication, water-flow energy harvesting, and corrosion resistance, PAA/F-PAA coating-based TENGs have promising applications in river and ocean energy collection and corrosion protection.
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-ZIFCu@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-ZIFCu@HA could become an effective and highly selective cancer treatment. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments have demonstrated that CuET-ZIFCu@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.
Interface engineering is an efficient strategy to modify electronic structure and further improve electrocatalytic activity. Herein, crystalline/amorphous heterostructured Co3O4–SmMn2O5 nanosheets (Co3O4–SMO NSs) have been synthesized by coupling of SMO (electron acceptor) with higher Fermi-level Co3O4 (electron donor), via a one-step hydrothermal method followed by calcination. The resulting Co3O4–SMO NSs display higher half-wave potential and specific activity than those of pure SMO or Co3O4. In addition, Co3O4–SMO NSs exhibit superior stability and methanol tolerance. The crystalline/amorphous heterostructure and the electron interaction between SMO and Co3O4 result in interfacial charge transfer. This leads to more active valence states and more oxygen vacancies, optimizing the adsorption energy of O species and expediting electron migration, thus boosting oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic performance. This study provides a promising strategy to design efficient ORR electrocatalysts by interfacial engineering.
Regarding the increasing number of cancer patients, the global burden of this disease is continuing to grow. Despite a considerable improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of various types of cancer, new diagnosis and treatment strategies are required. Nanotechnology, as an interesting and advanced field in medicine, is aimed to further advance both cancer diagnosis and treatment. Gold nanocages (AuNCs), with hollow interiors and porous walls, have received a great deal of interest in various biomedical applications such as diagnosis, imaging, drug delivery, and hyperthermia therapy due to their special physicochemical characteristics including the porous structure and surface functionalization as well as optical and photothermal properties. This review is focused on recent developments in therapeutic and diagnostic and applications of AuNCs with an emphasis on their theranostic applications in cancer diseases.
To construct supercapacitors (SCs) with high-efficient electrochemical properties, the morphology and structure of applied electrode materials are the key factors. Herein, three-dimensional (3D) sea urchin-like MnCo2O4 nanoarchitectures grown on Ni foam (NF) were successfully synthesized via a simple solvothermal method and subsequent annealing treatment. Electrochemical tests revealed that the area specific capacitances of the MnCo2O4 electrode and the corresponding assembled asymmetric device can achieve 1634 and 522 mF·cm−2, respectively. When the power density of the assembled asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) is 2.25 mW·cm−2, the maximum energy density can reach 0.163 mW·h·cm−2. After 5500 cycles of long-term stability test, the capacity retention rate maintains 91.7%. The excellent electrochemical performance can be mainly ascribed to the unique nanostructure of the material, which provides a great quantity of electroactive sites for Faraday redox reactions as well as accelerates the process of the ions/electrons transport. This work provides a certain reference value for the preparation of MnCo2O4 electrode with novel structure and excellent electrochemical performance for SCs.
Recent advances in nanotechnology have attracted significant attention to nanodiamonds (NDs) in both industrial and research areas thanks to their remarkable intrinsic properties: large specific area, poor cytotoxicity, chemical resistance, magnetic and optical properties, ease of large-scale production, and surface reactivity make them suitable for numerous applications, including electronics, optics, sensors, polishing materials, and more recently, biological purposes. Growing interest in diamond platforms for bioimaging and chemotherapy is observed. Given the outstanding features of these particles and their ease of tuning, current and future applications in medicine have the potential to display innovative imaging applications and to be used as tools for monitoring and tracking drug delivery in vivo.
The design and development of multifunctional nano-drug delivery systems (NDDSs) is a solution that is expected to solve some intractable problems in traditional cancer treatment. In particular, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are novel hybrid porous nanomaterials which are constructed by the coordination of metal cations or clusters and organic bridging ligands. Benefiting from their intrinsic superior properties, MOFs have captivated intensive attentions in drug release and cancer theranostic. Based on what has been achieved about MOF-based DDSs in recent years, this review introduces different stimuli-responsive mechanisms of them and their applications in cancer diagnosis and treatment systematically. Moreover, the existing challenges and future opportunities in this field are summarized. By realizing industrial production and paying attention to biosafety, their clinical applications will be enriched.
This work reports the immobilization of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on cotton fabrics (CFs). The ZnO and AuNPs containing CF composite materials demonstrated excellent photocatalytic activity towards degradation of the model organic dye molecule. A two-step method was used to first create zinc oxide nanorods (ZnONRs) on the CF fibers. Subsequently, these ZnONRs were decorated with cationic polymer-capped AuNPs to yield the composite materials. A one-pot synthetic route was developed to synthesize polymer-capped AuNPs. The water-soluble cationic polymers used here are polyguanidino oxanorbornenes (PGONs) at 20 kDa and polyamino oxanorbornenes (PAONs) at 20 kDa. UV–vis was utilized to monitor the composite materials’ photocatalytic activity in degrading model organic dye molecules. All the materials were characterized by FTIR, UV–visible DRS, SEM, EDX, and XRD. The composite materials exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity and recyclability in the presence of UV light.
Wearable gas sensors can improve early warning provision for workers in special worksites and can also be used as flexible electronic platforms. Here, the flexible multifunctional gas sensor was prepared by grafting graphene oxide (GO)-Ag onto cotton fabric after swelling. The maximum bacterial inhibition rate of GO-150/cotton fabric was 95.6% for E. coli and 87.6% for S. aureus, while retaining the original high moisture permeability of cotton fabric. So GO/cotton fabric can resist the multiplication of bacteria. At the same time, GO can greatly improve the UV protection performance of cotton fabric used in garments. With increase of the GO concentration, the UV protection ability of composite fabric is enhanced. Finally, GO-Ag/cotton fabric sensors had stable NH3 gas-sensitive properties and good washing stability. In conclusion, these cotton fabric sensors with antibacterial properties, UV resistance and highly sensitive gas-sensitive properties have potential applications in wearable early warning devices and textile products.
Filled skutterudite is currently one of the most promising intermediate-temperature thermoelectric (TE) materials, having good thermoelectric transport performance and excellent mechanical properties. For the preparation of high-efficiency filled skutterudite TE devices, it is important to have p- and n-type filled skutterudite TE materials with matching performance. However, the current TE properties of p-type Fe-based filled skutterudite materials are worse than n-type filled skutterudite materials. Therefore, how to obtain high-performance p-type Fe-based filled skutterudite materials is the key to preparation of high-efficiency skutterudite-based TE devices. This review summarizes some methods for optimizing the thermal transport performance of p-type filled skutterudite materials at the atomic-molecular and nano-mesoscopic scale that have been used in recent years. These methods include doping, multi-atom filling, and use of low-dimensional structure and of nanocomposite. In addition, the synergistic optimization methods of the electrical and thermal transport parameters and advanced preparation technologies of p-type filled skutterudite materials in recent years are also briefly summarized. These optimizational methods and advanced preparation technologies can significantly improve the TE properties of p-type Fe-based filled skutterudite materials.
