On-site and real-time detection and identification of alkylamines are important, but remain as a challenge. In this work, we report a unique nanofilm and the nanofilm-based high-performance fluorescent alkylamine sensor. The nanofilm was prepared at the air/dimethyl sulfoxide interface with 4,4′,4″-nitrilo-tribenzohydrazide (TPATH) and 4,7-diphenylaldehyde-benzothiadiazole (BT-2CHO) as the building blocks, and depicted self-standing, defect-free, fluorescence active, and superior adhesive properties, enabling fabrication of a robust fluorescence film sensor. The response time of the sensor to the tested alkylamines is within 0.2 s, and the detection limits for butylamine, dimethylamine and triethylamine are 4, 8 and 70 ppm, respectively. Moreover, the profiles of the fluorescence emission spectra of the nanofilm recorded after exposure to alkylamines of primary, secondary, and tertiary structures are different from one to another, enabling discrimination of them. The diversified response behavior and the related identification property of the sensor to the different alkylamines was ascribed to the formation of different complexes between the analytes and the nanofilm. The high performance of the BT-TPATH nanofilm-based alkylamine sensor may guarantee its application in disease diagnosis, food spoilage monitoring, environmental monitoring, etc.

Triplet-triplet annihilation photon upconversion (TTA-UC) has emerged as a promising strategy for enhancing solar energy harvesting efficiency by converting two low-energy, long-wavelength photons into a high-energy, short-wavelength photon. In recent years, semiconductor nanocrystals have gained significant attention as efficient photosensitizers for TTA-UC due to their excellent triplet energy transfer efficiency and the ability to tune their bandgap across the solar spectrum. This review focuses on the mechanism of NC-based TTA-UC, emphasizing key parameters to evaluate the performance of TTA-UC systems. The influence of various material-related factors on the overall NC-based TTA-UC performance is thoroughly discussed. Moreover, recent advances in solid-state approaches for NC-based TTA-UC are highlighted, along with an overview of the current status of applications in this field. Lastly, this review identifies the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the future development of NC-based TTA-UC, providing insights into the potential advancements and directions for further research.

Wound healing is a complex process that involves multiple stages and is susceptible to various challenges, such as infection, insufficient blood flow , and the body’s inadequate response to the healing process, which can be life-threatening for the patient. In the current medical landscape, traditional treatments often struggle to meet the high standards of modern medical care. Therefore, it is crucial to actively explore and develop new drugs or advanced technologies that can enhance the healing of bacterially infected wounds. In recent years, several physical methods that effectively accelerate wound healing have garnered widespread attention and interest. Among these, Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been extensively utilized in the treatment of bacterial infections and wound healing due to its non-invasive, low toxicity, and ease of use. The photothermal agents (PTAs) serve as the core material in PTT, and their efficacy is significantly influenced by the specific PTAs employed. Selecting the appropriate PTAs is essential for achieving the desired therapeutic effect. This treatment relies on the PTAs’s ability to efficiently convert specific wavelengths of light energy into heat upon absorption, thereby generating a thermal effect at the wound site. Consequently, the properties of the PTAs, including photothermal conversion efficiency , biocompatibility, and stability within the organism, are critical factors that determine the therapeutic outcome. This review introduces organic, inorganic, and organic-inorganic hybrid PTAs for PTT in wound healing, highlighting their main properties and applications in wound management in recent years. Finally, we briefly discuss the limitations and prospects of this field.

Stimuli-responsive molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are exciting smart materials that are gaining substantial interest within the research community due to their versatility and possible widespread applications in biosensing, biomedicine and diagnostics, as well as chromatography and separation sciences. These materials offer significant advantages as recognition materials over their biological counter-parts (antibodies) because of their ease and low cost of production along with their robustness and resistance to the extremes of temperature and pH. This much needed review aims to provide an updated summary of the various stimuli-responsive MIPs reported to date including those relying on thermo, pH, photo, biomolecule, ion, magnetic and electrical stimuli and includes their design and synthesis. The review also explores the potential applications of the stimuli-responsive MIPs, particularly in the fields of biosensors and diagnostics, along with biological imaging, drug delivery, disease treatments and interventions and the separation of targets from complex media. The advantages and disadvantages of the current stimuli-responsive MIPs set out in the review, allows for researchers to gather a concise understanding of these smart-materials and should pave the way for new methods of development and real-world applications. We believe the review is a helpful and necessary guide for the future evolution and application of stimuli-responsive MIPs.

Chiral organic materials have garnered significant interest in nanophononics due to their ability to manipulate polarized light and encode optical information. Herein, chiral one-dimensional (1D) organic microplates based on benzocyclazine form homochiral crystals that exhibit excellent optical waveguiding properties. These microplates exhibited highly asymmetric light propagation that depends on the handedness of circularly polarized light (CPL). These homochiral microplates demonstrated selective transmission, with R-microplate favouring left-handed CPL and S-microplate favouring right-handed CPL, showcasing distinct optical loss coefficients for each enantiomer. Multichannel light propagation was observed, where the intensity varied based on the excitation position. These results highlight the potential of 1D chiral microplates for advanced nanophotonic devices, offering chiral-dependent control over light transmission for future applications in optical information processing.

Snap-through instability, a rapid transition between equilibrium states, has emerged as a crucial mechanism for designing mechanical metamaterials with novel functionalities, including fast motion, energy modulation, and bistable deformation. Metamaterials with snap-through instability, known as snapping metamaterials, have enabled diverse applications, such as robotics, sensing, energy absorption, shape reconfiguration, and mechanical intelligence. Given the importance of these advancements, a comprehensive review of this field is highly desired. This paper provides an overview of recent research on snapping meta-materials, focusing on their design strategies and applications. Here, we summarized snapping metamaterials in several respects, including beam-based structures, shell-based structures, and origami/kirigami designs, according to their basic elements, alongside a brief discussion of their unique deformation mechanisms. Furthermore, the potential applications of snapping metamaterials are presented in terms of motion, energy, and deformation. To conclude, perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in this emerging field are highlighted, offering insights into the future research and development of snapping metamaterials.

Differential sensing, inspired by the olfactory systems in mammals, utilizes the cross-reactivity of multiple sensor units toward analytes to generate a distinctive fingerprint for each analyte. Widely acknowledged as a robust analytical technique, differential sensing has entered a flourishing era with the advancement of machine learning. Nevertheless, developing sensor units and optimizing signal transduction remain significant tasks left to chemists. Macrocyclic receptors serve as promising materials for constructing sensor arrays with enhanced cross-reactivity, facilitated by their ease of synthesis and derivatization, inherent broad-spectrum encapsulation capability, and compatibility with multiple responsive signal transduction approaches. Herein, we present a concise overview of the fundamental processes involved in a sensor array, encompassing array construction, signal transduction, and data acquisition and analysis, with an emphasis on the unique advantages provided by macrocyclic receptors in the former two aspects. Then, we present fascinating application scenarios where macrocyclic receptors shine in differential sensing that rely on various ingenious sensing strategies. Finally, we discuss several issues with potential improvement and future directions for macrocyclic receptor-based differential sensing, offering a forward-looking perspective.

As one of the revolutionizing biodegradable metals, Magnesium (Mg) has gained global attention from researchers due to positive clinical feedback in bone fixation and cardiovascular repair. In many cases, researchers attributed its biological effects to the degradation products of Mg, overlooking the interactions between Mg and the microenvironment within bodies, as well as the additional effects of physical/chemical reactions induced by endogenous and exogenous stimuli on tissues. In recent years, the academic community has increasingly focused on the stimuli responsiveness of Mg-based materials for tissue repair and disease treatment. However, there is a lack of systematic summaries on the “composition-structurefunction” relationships when Mg-based materials are applied in various physiological scenarios. To address this gap, this review summarizes the biological effects of Mg-based materials under endogenous and exogenous stimuli over the past decade. Endogenous stimuli mainly include changes in spontaneously released Mg²⁺ ions concentration, pH variations, body fluid infiltration, reactive oxygen species intervention, temperature changes, and enzyme involvement. Exogenous stimuli primarily involve external fields such as photo-irradiation, electric field, magnetic field, ultrasound, and mechanical stress. By activating these endogenous/exogenous stimuli, the specific functions of Mg-based materials can be triggered as needed, leading to more pronounced therapeutic effects compared to the non-stimulated state. Accordingly, we also analyze the mechanisms underlying the enhanced biological impact. Based on existing research, this review further examines the limitations of studies under different stimulation scenarios and proposes suggestions for future research improvements. Ultimately, we hope this review could provide new insights for the efficient clinical application of Mg-based materials in the future.