Advanced Science最新文献

Electrochemical reduction of bicarbonate offers an attractive pathway for converting captured CO₂ into valuable chemicals under mild conditions, thereby bypassing prior CO₂ release. Herein, we examine the catalytic performance and mechanism of a Ni single-atom catalyst in bicarbonate electrolysis to CO and H₂, emphasizing the impact of CO₂ (carbon species) escaping from the electrolyte, a critical and often-overlooked factor in the literature that affects selectivity and efficiency. We investigate three cell configurations: (1) closed cell with no CO₂ escape, preserving reactive carbon species; (2) open cell with moderate escape, causing gradual depletion; and (3) Ar-purged cell with significant escape, accelerating degassing and losses. In an H-cell, however, CO selectivity declines over time in both open and Ar-purged setups due to changes in the electrolyte. Infrared spectroscopy, pH monitoring, and quantitative carbonate-speciation analysis indicate that loss of CO selectivity stems from the depletion of reactive carbon species (dissolved CO₂ from bicarbonate dissociation) and buffer shifts, rather than catalyst deactivation. Selectivity is restored by pH adjustment. Kinetic analyses, including Tafel slopes (∼118 mV dec^-1) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, reveal a rate-determining step in which a pre-equilibrium chemical reaction is coupled to electron transfer to adsorbed CO₂ intermediates.

Selenium is an essential trace element whose dysregulation is associated with diverse disease risks; however, its specific role in hepatic metabolism remains poorly defined. Here we delineate a novel selenium-selenoprotein H (SELENOH)-PPARα signaling axis that is critical for hepatic lipid homeostasis. We first uncovered a global impairment of selenoprotein translation as a key feature of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) in human patients and mouse models. Both dietary selenium supplementation and genetically rescuing selenoprotein biosynthesis attenuated MASH pathology, establishing a causal link. Through a targeted screen, we pinpointed SELENOH as the key hepatoprotective selenoprotein governing hepatic fatty acid oxidation (FAO). Diverging from the canonical redox functions of selenoproteins, SELENOH operates as a scaffolding coactivator for the nuclear receptor PPARα. SELENOH binds to ligand-activated PPARα and orchestrates the assembly and chromatin recruitment of the PPARα-P300 transactivation complex to drive FAO gene expression. This nexus is disrupted in MASH livers due to SELENOH deficiency but is reconstituted by selenium supplementation. These findings altogether define selenium homeostasis as a fundamental regulator of nuclear receptor function and unveil promising therapeutic avenues for MASH.

Doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC) has become a major obstacle for clinical application. While ferroptosis represents a critical therapeutic target for DIC, current intervention strategies are limited by spatiotemporal mismatches between DOX accumulation and iron chelation. Here, we engineered an EDTA-functionalized Hf-based metal-organic framework for DOX delivery. This nanoplatform (DME) simultaneously mediates tumor radiochemotherapy synergy and inhibits ferroptosis via real-time iron chelation in cardiac tissue. The EDTA modification not only enhances drug penetration to kill deep-seated tumors, but also endows DME superior iron-scavenging ability, which effectively suppresses mitochondrial-dependent ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes. Using primary cultured neonatal mice cardiomyocytes and a chronic DIC murine model, we demonstrated DME's significant cardioprotection and elucidated its mechanistic basis. Thus, our work establishes a bifunctional nanoplatform that unifies oncotherapy and cardioprotection, offering a spatiotemporally matched iron-chelation strategy for safe and effective clinical use of DOX.

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a debilitating diabetes complication in which mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are prominent but mechanistically unresolved features. Here, we identify the mitochondria-encoded circular RNA (mecciRNA) circMT-RNR2 as a novel modulator of mitochondrial redox homeostasis in human skin wound healing. CircMT-RNR2 is reduced in DFU patient tissue and diabetic mouse wounds, enriched in dermal fibroblasts, and localized to mitochondria. Its loss impairs fibroblast proliferation, migration, extracellular matrix production, and contraction by destabilizing the mitochondrial antioxidant protein PRDX3, leading to elevated oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, and mitophagy. In murine and human ex vivo wound models, circMT-RNR2 knockdown delays healing, whereas overexpression accelerates repair and boosts antioxidant defenses. These findings position circMT-RNR2 as a mitochondrial guardian of skin healing and a promising therapeutic target for DFU.

Programmability greatly enhances the degree of freedom to manipulate electromagnetic (EM) waves dynamically and lays crucial foundation for intelligent applications of metasurfaces. However, the traditional programmable metasurfaces need complicated biasing networks to control m×n digital meta-atoms independently to fulfill the reprogrammable functions in real time, which also results in large power consumption to drive the metasurface. To alleviate this problem, we propose an XOR-logic phase coding programmable metasurface to reduce the complexity of biasing network from m×n to m+n, which can reduce the power consumption significantly. The XOR-logic phase coding is achieved by path symmetry of surface currents on a Pancharatnam-Berry meta-atom loaded with two PIN diodes. By controlling 2×m×n PIN diodes on the whole metasurface in row-column manner, only m+n biasing lines are required to switch 0 and 1 states of all meta-atoms independently. As the proof of concept, a prototype of the XOR-logic phase coding programmable metasurface is designed and fabricated. Both simulation and measured results verify the reprogrammable functions of beam scanning and multi-beam scattering. This work provides a new type programmable metasurface with simple architecture and low power consumption, which will find wide applications in intelligent systems such as next-generation wireless communication, Internet of Things, and radar.

Noise, often regarded as an unwanted background in electronic devices, can instead serve as a sensitive probe of switching dynamics. In hafnia ferroelectrics, the coexistence of polarization-mediated (P-RS) and defect-mediated (D-RS) resistance switching has been widely debated, yet prior evidence has remained qualitative. Here, we demonstrate that low-frequency noise (LFN) can be transformed into a quantitative order parameter that disentangles the two mechanisms across program bias (V_PGM) and processing conditions. By varying the O₃ dose time during HfZrO atomic layer deposition (ALD), the normalized power spectral density (S_I/I²) consistently exhibits a rise-peak-fall profile. We introduce a deconvolution framework, grounded in monotonic baselines and alternating projections, to extract physically consistent polarization- and defect-mediated current components. The resulting process-bias maps show that reduced O₃ dose shifts the P-RS/D-RS crossover to lower V_PGM and sharpens the transition, directly linking oxygen stoichiometry to the competition between switching pathways. This quantitative approach resolves the long-standing controversy over P-RS and D-RS coexistence and provides practical guidance for the design of hafnia-based ferroelectric devices.

Despite ongoing challenges in developing effective non-surgical and non-hormonal treatments for endometriosis, the psychological manifestations of the disease-particularly anxiety-remain comparatively underexplored. In this study, a hydrogen sulfide (H₂S)-releasing aspirin derivative, ACS14, was encapsulated in albumin nanoparticles (ACS14@BSA) for targeted delivery. Upon intraperitoneal injection in a mouse model of endometriosis, ACS14@BSA was selectively transported to ectopic lesions via a neutrophil hitchhiking strategy. There, it inhibited ectopic cell proliferation by modulating the PI3K/Akt pathway and reduced inflammation by suppressing the NF-κB pathway, exerting a comprehensive therapeutic effect on endometriosis. Simultaneously, the H₂S released at lesion sites was conveyed through the bloodstream to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a brain region critical for anxiety regulation, as demonstrated by in vivo fiber photometry recordings in mice. Importantly, in the ACC, H₂S upregulated glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1), decreased extracellular glutamate levels, and dampened glutamatergic neuron hyperactivity, thereby alleviating endometriosis-associated anxiety. This study presents a novel gasotransmitter-releasing nanoplatform that offers a non-invasive and non-hormonal approach for the concurrent treatment of endometriosis and associated anxiety.

Synthetic biology employs engineering principles to construct genetic circuits with customized functionality, empowering unprecedented control over biological systems. By harnessing this capability to precisely manipulate biological systems, synthetic biosensors are being developed as promising biosensing platforms for on-site, sustainable, affordable, and easy-to-use detection across diverse scenarios, such as environmental monitoring, disease diagnosis, food safety control, and bioproduction optimization. However, the field deployment and real-world application of synthetic biosensors face considerable challenges in biosensing sensitivity, specificity, speed, stability, and biosafety. This review summarizes recent advancements of genetic circuit-enabled synthetic biosensors, focusing on their sensory mechanisms, designs, and applications. Moreover, the design principles, enabling tools, and engineering strategies for creating a high-performing synthetic biosensor are analyzed. In particular, methods for tuning various characteristics of the dose-response curve, including detection limit, detection threshold, operating range, dynamic range, and leakiness, are thoroughly examined. Finally, this review discusses the functional extension of biosensors by customizing signal-processing and output modules, and outlines future directions to expedite the transition of synthetic biosensors from laboratory settings to field applications. Genetic circuit-enabled synthetic biosensors, in collaboration with materials science, electronic engineering, and artificial intelligence, will tremendously expand the application space of synthetic biology.

The growing demand for personalized healthcare and neurophysiological monitoring is accelerating the advancement of intelligent bioelectronic technologies capable of interacting precisely with biological systems. The human body, as a complex multicellular organism, performs diverse and regulated physiological functions. These biological systems rely on tightly regulated ion-based mechanisms to respond to stimuli, perceive sensory inputs, and maintain homeostasis. The human nervous system operates as a biologically optimized information processing network with remarkable energy efficiency and adaptability. Efforts to artificially replicate such physiological mechanisms have become a central focus in the development of bioelectronics that establish precise ion-based interactions with living tissues. Accordingly, this review highlights ionic liquids (ILs) as artificial ionic materials that play a pivotal role in bridging ion-based signal transmission in biological systems with the electron-based operation of electronic devices. To realize integrated and multifunctional interfaces capable of engaging with a wide range of biological tissues, a comprehensive understanding of the composition-structure-function relationships and elucidation of the precise working mechanisms of ILs is imperative. Through this, ILs may evolve beyond their traditional role as electrolytes into core platform materials for bioinspired electronic systems that integrate sensing, actuation, and adaptive intelligence.

Bistable structures exhibiting snap-through behavior are prevalent in nature, enabling rapid transitions between two stable states upon external stimuli. Considering such a process is accompanied by a dramatic energy conversion, here, a multifunctional bistable system composed of asymmetric bistable beams with programmable motion patterns is developed. Unlike symmetric bistable beams, the asymmetric bistable structures store greater strain energy while requiring lower activation force. The energy density of the system can be tuned by adjusting geometric parameters, type of material, and the number of beams incorporated. Experiments indicate that a three-beam system manufactured from polylactic acid projects a sphere-comparable in weight to the beams-to a height 35 times its diameter, representing a 41% increase in energy transfer efficiency compared to a single beam of identical geometry. Leveraging the programmability and high energy conversion density features of the system, we showcase its versatility in applications including targeted payload delivery, rapid stimuli-responsive actuation, and biomedical stents. Additionally, the capability of the system to dissipate impact energy is investigated, underscoring its potential for shock absorption.