Nano Today最新文献

Dynamic cavity is widespread in living matter and supramolecular scaffolds. Generally speaking, flexible building block as a segment is used to realize dynamic cavities building in artificial molecules and materials. However, the incorporation of rigid synthetic supramolecular scaffolds with flexible cavity motion remains rare. Inspired by rotational origami patterns, giant shape amphiphile (GSA), POSS-NDI-POSS (PNP), assembled into an origami nano-box with feature of rotational expansion. The open/close of cavity and size control of PNP host can be adjusted by rotational offset between adjacent PNP in supramolecule entities. The rotational offset of 150°, 130° and 0° were observed when the host nano-box presented close, half-open and fully-open state, respectively. The rotational expansion of PNP trigged by gaseous arenes makes PNP as a novel nonporous crystal. Compared with conformation change in flexible building segment, rotational expansion in acyclic host (PNP) provides a new strategy for the development of rigid segment to build adaptive host-guest recognition.

Ion-exchange membranes have been widely used to harvest osmotic energy in the past decades. However, conventional ion-exchange membranes suffer from low output power and poor conversion efficiency due to their limited pores and high membrane resistance. Herein, a sodium alginate (SA)/3-sulfopropyl acrylate potassium salt (SPAK) hydrogel membrane which has good cationic selectivity and can effectively harvest osmotic energy is designed, yielding a maximum power density of 16.44 W/m² under a 50-fold NaCl concentration gradient and 36.85 W/m² with ion selectivity of 0.73 at 500-fold. Furthermore, by introducing Zr⁴⁺, post-crosslinking reaction was employed to prepare tougher hydrogel membranes at room temperature for breaking a trade-off between selectivity and permeability, boosting a maximum power density up to 25.07 W/m² under a 50-fold NaCl concentration gradient and 121.66 W/m² with a high cation selectivity of 0.87 at 500-fold. Importantly, the resultant SA/SPAK/Zr⁴⁺ membrane reveals excellent osmotic energy harvesting property with the largest thickness of 500 μm, exceeding other reported porous nanofluidic membranes. Theoretical calculations correlate the enhanced power density of SA/SPAK/Zr⁴⁺ membranes with the enriched Cl^- and smaller pore size after the introduction of Zr⁴⁺. This work paves an avenue to design and develop the 3D hydrogel membranes for high-performance osmotic energy generators.

Graphitic carbon nitride is a new type of carbon-based nanomaterial with superior properties and great potential for application, which raised great concerns about their environmental and occupational exposure. Graphitic carbon nitride has been reported to accumulate in the lung potentially, however, the respiratory hazard effect of graphitic carbon nitride is still unknown. In the present study, we reported that graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) and its doped variant sulfur doped graphitic carbon nitride (S-g-CN) nanosheets inhalation induced pulmonary inflammation, increased the production of pulmonary surfactant in alveolar type II epithelial cells, accompanied by the upregulation of lipids transporter expression levels in alveolar macrophages to clear excessive pulmonary surfactant in the alveolar. Further investigation found that the internalization of g-CN and S-g-CN prevented lipid phagocytosis and metabolic processes in alveolar macrophages, ultimately leading to the deposition of proteins and phospholipids in the lung. Furthermore, we found that g-CN was more robust in inhalation toxicity compared to sulfur doped form, which meant the doping of sulfur in graphitic carbon nitride reduced hazardous effects on the respiratory system. In summary, our study demonstrated that inhalation of graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets caused the deposition of pulmonary surfactants in lung, providing an insightful reference for pulmonary toxicity assessment of graphitic carbon nitride.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) achieve therapeutic effects through toxin delivery inside cells, targeting high-abundance antigens. However, tumor heterogeneity and the low abundance of tumor-specific antigens underscore the urgent requirement for developing a flexible, multifunctional, and high-capacity drug-delivery platform. The current study developed a self-assembled ADC platform called the high drug–antibody-ratio ADC (HD-ADC). Cytotoxic payloads were efficiently conjugated into a 12-arm deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) branched junction via DNA-mediated precise self-assembly to achieve a high drug–antibody ratio (DAR). Anti-EGFR HD-ADC showed strong efficacy in causing cytotoxicity and suppressing tumor growth in an A431 xenograft mouse model. Furthermore, the Cy5-conjugated HD-ADC platform was a simple and effective method for improving fluorescent signal detection, enabling the detection of targets—such as neoantigens—with ultralow-expression levels. The HD-ADC platform supports the assembly of various functional components, providing the foundation for usage across multiple antibody-mediated targeted therapies and diagnostics.

Developing drug-free nanotherapeutics is extremely appealing provided they could achieve effective therapeutic performances. This study proposes a sodium bicarbonate-dependent gas therapy modality targeting fragile lysosomes of cancer cells through carbon dioxide-induced lysosomal rupture. Interestingly, we reveal that this gas therapy induces cell death through the combination of necrosis, pyroptosis and ferroptosis, rather than the conventional apoptosis pathway. Notably, the high water-solubility of sodium bicarbonate presents a significant challenge in engineering its nanotherapeutics that require long-term water-tolerance for its intravenous delivery. To address this issue, an EPDPPP approach is here developed under aqueous conditions. Without any anticancer drugs, the sodium bicarbonate nanoparticles alone can selectively kill cancer cells with high specificity. Thanks to the high water tolerance, the sodium bicarbonate nanoparticles coated with cancer cell membranes have shown favorable performance in targeting and inhibiting tumors after intravenous administration. This water-tolerant sodium bicarbonate nanoplatform is expected to have potential applications in various medical fields, including the targeted gas therapy. Additionally, this study may suggest a viable direction for developing water-tolerant nanoparticles derived from water-soluble inorganic salts.

The aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) exhibit promising prospects for large-scale energy storage applications, owing to their notable advantages in terms of safety, abundant reserves of raw materials, and high energy density. However, dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and side reaction phenomena arising from the zinc anode side seriously hinder its further development in practical application. To solve these problems, many solutions have been proposed, including the addition of additives in the electrolyte, the design of zinc anode structure, etc., which have made great progress in the past few years. Among them, anode modification of zinc is considered one of the effective means to solve these issues. Herein, we first analyzed the causes of dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and side reactions in the presence of zinc anode. Then, we introduce the improved methods for layer coating, alloy anodes, and acid treatment, and provide a comprehensive and in-depth summary of the respective operational principles of these three methods. Finally, we provide a perspective for further development and research of high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Although CrNb coated zirconium alloy materials are considered as ATF candidates with excellent oxidation resistance and mechanical properties, the irradiation response behavior under harsh and complex service conditions is still unrevealed. Here, we report the evolution of the microstructure of pure Cr and CrNb coatings with different Nb contents under simultaneous irradiation with Cr⁺-He⁺-H₂⁺ triple ion beams at 633 K by using an advanced in-situ transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that CrNb coatings with high Nb content have better irradiation stability. Under high-temperature irradiation conditions, irradiation-induced oxidation and grain growth or crystallization are observed for both Cr-8 Nb with a nanocrystalline structure and Cr-18 Nb coatings with an almost amorphous structure, whereas Cr-37 Nb coatings maintains relatively intact in the amorphous phase after irradiation at a dose of 10 dpa. Based on the in-situ tracking of the microstructural evolution, it is revealed that the mechanism of irradiation-accelerated oxidation and crystallization of coatings originates from displacement cascades enhancing local atomic diffusion and rearrangement.

Mitochondria play a crucial function in tumor proliferation and apoptosis, and inducing mitochondrial dysfunction in cells has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for tumors. Here, curcumin (CUR) is enrolled in amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) through the coprecipitation method, followed by Cy5.5-labeled DNA was adsorbed on its surface to propose an acidity-responsive nucleic acid-based nanomodulator (ACP@C-D) to enhance Ca²⁺ overload and mitochondrial biomineralization for cancer therapy by amplifying intra-mitochondrial Ca²⁺ concentration. After tumor cell administration, the ACP@C-D will disintegrate in the acidic environment to enhance Ca²⁺ overload by the combined interaction of a dramatic increase in Ca²⁺ concentration and Ca²⁺ efflux inhibition by Cur. Moreover, the mitochondrial targeting ability of Cy5.5 allows DNA enrichment at mitochondrial, and the phosphate on DNA provides reaction sites for Ca²⁺ to achieve mitochondrial biomineralization thus mitochondrial dysfunction, which is reported for the first time. The facile and functional strategy of the nanomodulator will provide new insights into inmitochondria-based cancer therapy.

Macrophages play a crucial role in regulating the efficacy of immunotherapy. However, the tumor microenvironment (TME) educated macrophages into immune-suppressive phenotypes. The suppressive effects are largely caused through the clearance of apoptotic cells and secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Here, we propose that apoptotic cell-mimicking liposomes (PS_x) that contain phosphatidylserine reduce the phagocytosis of apoptotic tumor cells by interacting with various phosphatidylserine-recognizing phagocytotic receptors on macrophages. Uncleared apoptotic tumor cells undergo secondary necrosis, leading to the abundant release of tumor antigens and immunostimulants, thus causing immunogenic cell death (ICD). TLR7/8 agonists are further loaded as model agonists in liposomes (R@PS_x) to reverse the suppressive tumor microenvironment. These apoptotic cell mimics successfully induce a cytotoxic T-cell response and lead to tumor regression in different tumor models. This work provides a novel strategy to enhance the therapeutic effect of ICD and inflame the TME by modulating the function of macrophages.

Dimeric prodrug self-assembly nanoparticles (DPS NPs) present promising avenues for chemotherapeutic delivery, yet optimizing the linker design for effective SN38 delivery remains challenging. We developed various SN38 dimeric prodrugs with differing linker lengths to explore how linker length impacts DPS NP performance. Our study reveals that linker length critically affects the nanoparticles assembly stability and activation efficiency. Specifically, too short linkers compromise assembly stability and lead to premature drug activation in the bloodstream, raising safety concerns. Conversely, too long linkers hinder both assembly stability and activation efficiency within tumor cells, diminishing anti-tumor effectiveness. The optimal linker (C12) achieved the best balance, ensuring robust assembly stability and high activation efficiency, thereby enhancing anti-tumor efficacy while maintaining a favorable safety profile. This work underscores the significance of linker length in designing effective DPS NPs for cancer treatment.