Radiocesium remediation is desirable for ecological protection, human health and sustainable development of nuclear energy. Effective capture of Cs
from acidic solutions is still challenging, mainly ...due to the low stability of the adsorbing materials and the competitive adsorption of protons. Herein, the rapid and highly selective capture of Cs
from strongly acidic solutions is achieved by a robust K
-directed layered metal sulfide KInSnS
(InSnS-1) that exhibits excellent acid and radiation resistance. InSnS-1 possesses high adsorption capacity for Cs
and can serve as the stationary phase in ion exchange columns to effectively remove Cs
from neutral and acidic solutions. The adsorption of Cs
and H
O
is monitored by single-crystal structure analysis, and thus the underlying mechanism of selective Cs
capture from acidic solutions is elucidated at the molecular level.
Due to inherently poor healable and stretchable features, the most explored polyvinyl alcohol-based gel electrolytes cannot well meet the requirements of stretchable, healable and multifunctional ...supercapacitors. Here, we report a hydrogel of a copolymer cross-linked by double linkers of Laponite (synthetic hectorite-type clay) and graphene oxide. The resultant hydrogel shows high mechanical stretchability, excellent ionic conductivity, and superior healable performance. Along with designing wrinkled-structure electrodes, supercapacitors fabricated by using this hydrogel as a gel electrolyte not only exhibit ultrahigh mechanical stretchability of 1000%, but also achieve repeated healable performance under treatments of both infrared light irradiation and heating. More significantly, a broken/healed supercapacitor also possesses an ultrahigh stretchability up to 900% with slight performance decay. This hydrogel electrolyte could be easily functionalized by introducing other functional components, and extended for use in other portable and wearable energy related devices with multifunction.
Because of the rapid development of flexible electronics, it is important to develop high‐performance flexible energy‐storage devices, such as supercapacitors and metal‐ion batteries. Compared with ...metal‐ion batteries, supercapacitors exhibit higher power density, longer cycling life, and excellent safety, and they can be easily fabricated into all‐solid‐state devices by using polymer gel electrolytes. All‐solid‐state supercapacitors (ASSSCs) have the advantages of being lightweight and flexible, thus showing great potential to be used as power sources for flexible portable electronics. Because of their high specific surface area and excellent electrical and mechanical properties, nanocarbon materials (such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon nanofibers, and so on) have been widely used as efficient electrode materials for flexible ASSSCs, and great achievements have been obtained. Here, the recent advances in flexible ASSSCs are summarized, from design strategies to fabrication techniques for nanocarbon electrodes and devices. Current challenges and future perspectives are also discussed.
Flexible all‐solid‐state supercapacitors (ASSSCs) based on nanocarbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon nanofibers, and so on, have attracted great attention recently. The recent advances on ASSSCs, from design strategies and fabrication of nanocarbon electrodes and devices, are summarized. Current challenges and future perspectives are also discussed.
Stretchable supercapacitors that can sustain their performance under unpredictable tensile force are important elements for practical applications of various portable and wearable electronics. ...However, the stretchability of most reported supercapacitors was often lower than 100 % because of the limitation of the electrodes used. Herein we developed all‐solid‐state supercapacitors with a stretchability as high as 240 % by using aligned carbon nanotube composites with compact structure as electrodes. By combined with pseudocapacitive molybdenum disulfide nanosheets, the newly developed supercapacitor showed a specific capacitance of 13.16 F cm−3, and also showed excellent cycling retention (98 %) after 10 000 charge–discharge cycles. This work also presents a general and effective approach in developing high‐performance electrodes for flexible and stretchable electronics.
At full stretch: Using highly aligned CNT/MoS2 composites, stretchable all‐solid‐state supercapacitors are prepared that sustain their electrochemical performance after being stretched by 240 %. They also exhibited excellent cycling stability after 10 000 charge–discharge cycles.
Precise and effective manipulation of protein functions still faces tremendous challenges. Herein we report a programmable peptide molecule, consisted of targeting and self‐assembly modules, that ...enables specific and highly efficient assembly governed by targeting receptor proteins. Upon binding to the cell membrane receptor, peptide conformation is somewhat stabilized along with decreased self‐assembly activation energy, promoting peptide‐protein complex oligomerization. We first design a GNNQQNY‐RGD peptide (G7‐RGD) to recognize integrin αVβ3 receptor for proof‐of‐concept study. In the presence of αVβ3 protein, the critical assembly concentration of free G7‐RGD decreases from 525 to 33 μM and the resultant G7‐RGD cluster drives integrin receptor oligomerization. Finally, a bispecific assembling peptide antiCD3‐G7‐RGD is rationally designed for cancer immunotherapy, which validates CD3 oligomerization and concomitant T cell activation, leading to T cell‐mediated cancer cell cytolysis.
The construction of a bispecific T‐cell engager (BiTE)‐like molecule is proposed. The peptide consists of dual CD3 and integrin αvβ3 targeting sequence, conjugated by a self‐assembling peptide. The molecule is designed to target the CD3 receptor on T cells and induce T cell‐mediated cytolysis against tumor cells overexpressing integrin αvβ3.
This article describes a systematic study of the oxidative etching and regrowth behaviors of Pd nanocrystals, including single‐crystal cubes bounded by {100} facets, single‐crystal octahedra and ...tetrahedra enclosed by {111} facets; and multiple‐twinned icosahedra covered by {111} facets and twin boundaries. During etching, Pd atoms are preferentially oxidized and removed from the corners regardless of the type of nanocrystal, and the resultant Pd2+ ions are then reduced back to elemental Pd. For cubes and icosahedra, the newly formed Pd atoms are deposited on the {100} facets and twin boundaries, respectively, due to their relatively higher energies. For octahedra and tetrahedra, the Pd atoms self‐nucleate in the solution phase, followed by their growth into small particles. We can control the regrowth rate relative to etching rate by varying the concentration of HCl in the reaction solution. As the concentration of HCl is increased, 18‐nm Pd cubes are transformed into octahedra of 23, 18, and 13 nm, respectively, in edge length. Due to the absence of regrowth, however, Pd octahedra are transformed into truncated octahedra, cuboctahedra, and spheres with decreasing sizes whereas Pd tetrahedra evolve into truncated tetrahedra and spheres. In contrast, Pd icosahedra with twin boundaries on the surface are converted to asymmetric icosahedra, flower‐like icosahedra, and spheres. This work not only advances the understanding of etching and growth behaviors of metal nanocrystals with various shapes and twin structures but also offers an alternative method for controlling their shape and size.
A systematic study was conducted to investigate the etching and regrowth behaviors of Pd nanocrystals, including single‐crystal cubes bounded by {100} facets, single‐crystal octahedra and tetrahedra enclosed by {111} facets; and multiple‐twinned icosahedra covered by {111} facets and twin boundaries.
Conductive polymers are recognized as ideal candidates for the development of noninvasive and wearable sensors for real‐time monitoring of potassium ions (K+) in sweat to ensure the health of life. ...However, the low ion‐to‐electron transduction efficiency and limited active surface area hamper the development of high‐performance sensors for low‐concentration K+ detection in the sweat. Herein, a wearable K+ sensor is developed by tailoring the nanostructure of polypyrrole (PPy), serving as an ion‐to‐electron transduction layer, for accurately and stably tracing the K+ fluctuation in human sweat. The PPy nanostructures can be tailored from nanospheres to nanofibers by controlling the supramolecular assembly process during PPy polymerization. Resultantly, the ion‐to‐electron transduction efficiency (17‐fold increase in conductivity) and active surface area (1.3‐fold enhancement) are significantly enhanced, accompanied by minimized water layer formation. The optimal PPy nanofibers‐based K+ sensor achieved a high sensitivity of 62 mV decade−1, good selectivity, and solid stability. After being integrated with a temperature sensor, the manufactured wearable sensor realized accurate monitoring of K+ fluctuation in the human sweat.
The polypyrrole (PPy) nanostructures are tailored from nanospheres to nanofibers via controlling the supramolecular assembly process, which is utilized as the ion‐to‐electron conductive layer. Resultantly, the ion‐to‐electron transduction efficiency and active surface area are significantly enhanced, accompanied by minimized water layer formation. The optimal PPy nanofiber‐based potassium ion (K+) sensor achieved a high sensitivity of 62 mV decade−1, good selectivity, and solid stability.
The rational design of artificial solid‐state nanopores is of great importance in the discovery of intriguing ion transport phenomena. 2D metal–organicframework (2D MOF) nanosheets with single ...crystallinity, aligned nanochannels, ultrathin thickness, and diverse functionalities are highly potential solid‐state nanopores. An electrophoretic method is developed to successfully fabricate MOF nanopores supported by SiNx substrate, which is confirmed by high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy. A giant gap around 4 V together with ionic current rectification is discovered in nonlinear voltage‐activated current‐voltage curves, revealing the synergy of the hydrophobic effect and charge effect in MOF nanopores. The charge effect embodies the different contribution current which results from the enrichment and depletion of ions in MOF nanopores by COMSOL simulation. Moreover, 2D MOF nanosheets with different surface charges, hydrophobicity, and pore sizes demonstrate the universality of nanopore fabrication and further confirm the synergistic mechanism. The nonlinear ion transport in the ultrathin MOF nanosheets will provide an opportunity to explore further applications in solid‐state nanopores.
Nonlinear ion transport through the single crystalline two‐dimensional ultrathin metal–organic framework nanosheets is discovered along with a giant gap of low conductance state as well as the rectification inversion. The synergetic mechanism is revealed by the combination of the regulation of physical and chemical parameters and simulations.
Here, we aimed to compare the operation time, postoperative pain score, graft healing, graft success rate, cholesteatoma incidence, audiometric outcomes, and complications between endoscopic modified ...myringoplasty (EMM) and endoscopic typical myringoplasty (ETM).
Patients with unilateral chronic tympanic membrane (TM) perforations undergoing myringoplasty were prospectively randomized to undergo EMM (n = 44) or ETM (n = 45). The operation time, postoperative pain score, graft healing, graft success rate, cholesteatoma incidence, audiometric outcomes, and complications were compared between these groups.
In total, 89 patients with unilateral chronic perforations were included (EMM group, 44; ETM group, 45). There were significant differences between the EMM and ETM groups in mean pain scores on the day after surgery (1.32 ± 0.56 vs. 2.58 ± 1.16, p < 0.001) and in the mean operation time (18.18 ± 2.43 vs. 51.53 ± 8.28 min, p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in graft success rates (93.18% vs. 88.89%, p = 0.735), pre- or postoperative air conduction pure-tone averages or air bone gaps (ABGs), or changes in ABGs between the groups. However, the difference in graft healing was significant at postoperative week 2 (33/44 vs. 24/45, p = 0.033) but was nonsignificant at postoperative week 4 and month 6. Computed tomography revealed the middle ear and mastoid to be well pneumatized at 12 months in all patients.
While 12-month graft and audiometric outcomes were comparable between EMM and ETM techniques, patients who underwent EMM had less postoperative pain, shorter operative times, faster healing, and a lower incidence of complications.
1 Laryngoscope, 2022.
With the increasing demands for novel flexible organic electronic devices, conductive polymers are now becoming the rising star for reaching such targets, which has witnessed significant ...breakthroughs in the fields of thermoelectric devices, solar cells, sensors, and hydrogels during the past decade due to their outstanding conductivity, solution‐processing ability, as well as tailorability. However, the commercialization of those devices still lags markedly behind the corresponding research advances, arising from the not high enough performance and limited manufacturing techniques. The conductivity and micro/nano‐structure of conductive polymer films are two critical factors for achieving high‐performance microdevices. In this review, the state‐of‐the‐art technologies for developing organic devices by using conductive polymers are comprehensively summarized, which will begin with a description of the commonly used synthesis methods and mechanisms for conductive polymers. Next, the current techniques for the fabrication of conductive polymer films will be proffered and discussed. Subsequently, approaches for tailoring the nanostructures and microstructures of conductive polymer films are summarized and discussed. Then, the applications of micro/nano‐fabricated conductive films‐based devices in various fields are given and the role of the micro/nano‐structures on the device performances is highlighted. Finally, the perspectives on future directions in this exciting field are presented.
Micro/nano‐structured conductive polymer films are critical for achieving high‐performance organic electronic devices. This review covers various micro/nano‐fabrication techniques and applications of micro/nano‐fabricated conductive films‐based devices in various fields such as sensors, energy devices, photonic devices, and actuators. The micro/nano‐structures play an important role in improving their performances.
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