Hydrogel materials are receiving increasing research interest due to their intriguing structures that consist of a crosslinked network of polymer chains with interstitial spaces filled with solvent ...water. This feature endows the materials with the characteristics of being both wet and soft, making them ideal candidates for electrolyte materials for flexible energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors and rechargeable batteries that are under intensive studies nowadays. More importantly, the highly abundant and tunable chemistries of these hydrogels allow the introduction of novel functionalities into the existing hydrogels so that it is possible to fabricate unprecedented energy storage devices with additional functions. Here, the state‐of‐the‐art advances of the hydrogel materials for flexible energy storage devices including supercapacitors and rechargeable batteries are reviewed. In addition, devices with various kinds of functions, such as self‐healing, shape memory, and stretchability, are also included to stress the critical role of hydrogel materials. Furthermore, the challenges embedded in the current technologies are also highlighted and discussed with the hope to continually boost future research for the fast‐developing field.
Hydrogel‐based electrolytes, as one of the core components in energy storage devices, introduce flexibility and additional functions, such as stretchability and self‐healing, to the devices. Consequently, improved adaptability to sophisticated and dynamic working environments could be endowed with the devices. The recent advancement of hydrogel‐based electrolytes for flexible and functional energy storage devices is reviewed and discussed.
Superior self-healability and stretchability are critical elements for the practical wide-scale adoption of personalized electronics such as portable and wearable energy storage devices. However, the ...low healing efficiency of self-healable supercapacitors and the small strain of stretchable supercapacitors are fundamentally limited by conventional polyvinyl alcohol-based acidic electrolytes, which are intrinsically neither self-healable nor highly stretchable. Here we report an electrolyte comprising polyacrylic acid dual crosslinked by hydrogen bonding and vinyl hybrid silica nanoparticles, which displays all superior functions and provides a solution to the intrinsic self-healability and high stretchability problems of a supercapacitor. Supercapacitors with this electrolyte are non-autonomic self-healable, retaining the capacitance completely even after 20 cycles of breaking/healing. These supercapacitors are stretched up to 600% strain with enhanced performance using a designed facile electrode fabrication procedure.
The ever-growing demand of portable and wearable electric devices requires energy storage devices with flexibility and wearable compatibility while not sacrificing the performance too much. This ...requires the electrode and electrolyte materials becoming robust and durable under mechanical deformations, which grants the polymers with inherent advantages. Therefore, polymers for supercapacitors, either as substrate/matrix or active materials have received prime concerns. Viewing from the requirements of the flexible and wearable supercapacitors, this review provides an essential guidance to choose and/or design the proper polymer materials for both electrode and electrolyte. More importantly, supercapacitors with additional functions that are achieved by utilizing polymer materials are also specifically highlighted.
Multifunctional energy storage and conversion devices that incorporate novel features and functions in intelligent and interactive modes, represent a radical advance in consumer products, such as ...wearable electronics, healthcare devices, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, smart household, and space satellites, etc. Here, smart energy devices are defined to be energy devices that are responsive to changes in configurational integrity, voltage, mechanical deformation, light, and temperature, called self‐healability, electrochromism, shape memory, photodetection, and thermal responsivity. Advisable materials, device designs, and performances are crucial for the development of energy electronics endowed with these smart functions. Integrating these smart functions in energy storage and conversion devices gives rise to great challenges from the viewpoint of both understanding the fundamental mechanisms and practical implementation. Current state‐of‐art examples of these smart multifunctional energy devices, pertinent to materials, fabrication strategies, and performances, are highlighted. In addition, current challenges and potential solutions from materials synthesis to device performances are discussed. Finally, some important directions in this fast developing field are considered to further expand their application.
Multifunctional energy storage and conversion devices incorporate novel features and functions in intelligent and interactive modes. Advisable materials, device designs, and performances are reviewed in terms of energy electronics endowed with smart functions like self‐healability, electrochromism, shape memory, photodetection, and thermal responsivity. The current challenges, potential solutions, and future directions are discussed to further expand their application and deepen understanding.
FTY720 (Fingolimod) is a known sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor agonist that exerts strong anti-inflammatory effects and was approved as the first oral drug for the treatment of multiple ...sclerosis by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010. FTY720 is mainly associated with unique functional "antagonist" and "agonist" mechanisms. The functional antagonistic mechanism is mediated by the transient down-regulation and degradation of S1P receptors on lymphocytes, which prevents lymphocytes from entering the blood stream from the lymph node. This subsequently results in the development of lymphopenia and reduces lymphocytic inflammation. Functional agonistic mechanisms are executed through S1P receptors expressed on the surface of various cells including neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and blood vessel endothelial cells. These functions might play important roles in regulating anti-apoptotic systems, modulating brain immune and phagocytic activities, preserving the Blood-Brain-Barrier (BBB), and the proliferation of neural precursor cells. Recently, FTY720 have shown receptor-independent effects, including intracellular target bindings and epigenetic modulations. Many researchers have recognized the positive effects of FTY720 and launched basic and clinical experiments to test the use of this agent against stroke. Although the mechanism of FTY720 has not been fully elucidated, its efficacy against cerebral stroke is becoming clear, not only in animal models, but also in ischemic stroke patients through clinical trials. In this article, we review the data obtained from laboratory findings and preliminary clinical trials using FTY720 for stroke treatment.
Smart yarns and textiles are an active field of researches nowadays due to their potential applications in flexible and stretchable electronics, wearable devices, and electronic sensors. Integration ...of ordinary yarns with conductive fillers renders the composite yarns with new intriguing functions, such as sensation and monitoring of strain and stress. Here we report a low cost scalable fabrication for highly reliable, stretchable, and conductive composite yarn as effective strain sensing material for human motion monitoring. By incorporating highly conductive single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) into the elastic cotton/polyurethane (PU) core-spun yarn through a self-designed coating approach, we demonstrated that the yarn is able to detect and monitor the movement of human limbs, such as finger and elbow, and even the wink of eyes. By virtue of the covered structure of the cotton/PU yarn and the reinforcement effect of SWCNTs, the composite yarn can bear up to 300% strain and could be cycled nearly 300,000 times under 40% strain without noticeable breakage. It is promising that this kind of conductive yarn can be integrated into various fabrics and used in future wearable devices and electronic skins.
In this work, platinum porous nanoparticles (PtPNPs) absorbed metal ions as electrochemical signals were fabricated. Clean-surface PtPNPs were prepared by a surfactant-free method and decorated with ...amino groups via 2-aminoethanethiol. Amino capped PtPNPs complexation with Cd(2+) and Cu(2+) to form PtPNPs-Cd(2+) and PtPNPs-Cu(2+) hybrids, respectively. Anti-CEA and Anti-AFP separately labeled with PtPNPs-Cd(2+) and PtPNPs-Cu(2+) were used as distinguishable signal tags for capturing antigens. The metal ions were detected in a single run through differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) without acid dissolution, electric potentials and peak heights of which reflected the identity and concentrations of the corresponding antigen. Ionic liquid reduced graphene oxide (IL-rGO) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was used as a substrate, which was rich in amino groups to immobilize antibodies by glutaraldehyde through cross-link between aldehyde groups and amino groups. Using the proposed probes and platform, a novel sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor for simultaneous detecting carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was successfully developed. This immunoassay possessed good linearity from 0.05 ng mL(-1) to 200 ng mL(-1) for both CEA and AFP. The detection limit of CEA was 0.002 ng mL(-1) and that of AFP was 0.05 ng mL(-1) (S/N=3). Furthermore, analysis of clinical serum samples using this immunosensor was well consistent with the data determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). It suggested that the proposed electrochemical immunoassay provided a potential application of clinical screening for early-stage cancers.
Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a master driver of glucose metabolism in cancer cells. Here, we demonstrate that a HIF-1α anti-sense lncRNA, HIFAL, is essential for maintaining and enhancing ...HIF-1α-mediated transactivation and glycolysis. Mechanistically, HIFAL recruits prolyl hydroxylase 3 (PHD3) to pyruvate kinase 2 (PKM2) to induce its prolyl hydroxylation and introduces the PKM2/PHD3 complex into the nucleus via binding with heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein F (hnRNPF) to enhance HIF-1α transactivation. Reciprocally, HIF-1α induces HIFAL transcription, which forms a positive feed-forward loop to maintain the transactivation activity of HIF-1α. Clinically, high HIFAL expression is associated with aggressive breast cancer phenotype and poor patient outcome. Furthermore, HIFAL overexpression promotes tumor growth in vivo, while targeting both HIFAL and HIF-1α significantly reduces their effect on cancer growth. Overall, our results indicate a critical regulatory role of HIFAL in HIF-1α-driven transactivation and glycolysis, identifying HIFAL as a therapeutic target for cancer treatment.
•Contributions of P, ET, R, and T to global TWSC are identified in 31 climates.•P, ET, and T explain distinct TWSC variances in different climates.•T impacts TWSC in cold arid, ice cap, and some ...climates with dry winter or no dry season.•TWSC in many arid climates are not well explained by all four hydroclimatic variables.•TWSC show decreasing trends in most continental climates.
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission provides an unprecedented way to assess terrestrial water storage changes (TWSC) worldwide. However, hydroclimatic drivers of GRACE-derived TWSC in different climates have not been systematically examined, which hinders its applications in water resources management and hydrological model development. In this study, we derived the monthly TWSC using the GRACE dataset, and analyzed its partial correlations with precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), runoff (R), and temperature (T) from 2003 to 2019 under the Köppen-Geiger world climate classification system. Relative contributions of the four hydroclimatic elements (P, ET, R, and T) to TWSC were quantified using the hierarchical partitioning method. The results indicate that P mainly controls TWSC in tropical climates, hot semi-arid climate, and temperate and continental climates with dry winter. ET is the primary driver of TWSC in mid- and high-latitude regions that feature temperate and continental climates with no dry season, subarctic climates, and polar climates. T mainly influences TWSC in cold arid climates, temperate and continental climates with dry summer or no dry season, and ice cap climate. However, TWSC in many arid climates near the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are not well explained by all four hydroclimatic variables according to their non-significant partial correlations. Large trends in annual TWSC are found in South America, western Canada, eastern contiguous United States, and Africa, which are likely due to marked changes in P based on their similar spatial pattern. In particular, decreasing TWSC are found in most continental climates, which manifests a deterioration of water resources availability in these regions. Overall, our results clarify the major hydroclimatic drivers of TWSC in different climates at a global scale, which may help improve TWSC modeling and prediction through a judicious selection of explanatory hydroclimatic variables in different climates.
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