Hitherto-Unexplored Photodynamic Therapy of Ag2S and Enhanced Regulation Based on Polydopamine In Vitro and Vivo

Given their superior penetration depths, photosensitizers with longer absorption wavelengths present broader application prospects in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Herein, Ag₂S quantum dots were discovered, for the first time, to be capable of killing tumor cells through the photodynamic route by near-infrared light irradiation, which means relatively less excitation of the probe compared with traditional photosensitizers absorbing short wavelengths. On modification with polydopamine (PDA), PDA-Ag₂S was obtained, which showed outstanding capacity for inducing reactive oxygen species (increased by 1.69 times). With the addition of PDA, Ag₂S had more opportunities to react with surrounding O₂, which was demonstrated by typical triplet electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis. Furthermore, the PDT effects of Ag₂S and PDA-Ag₂S achieved at longer wavelengths were almost identical to the effects produced at 660 nm, which was proved by studies in vitro. PDA-Ag₂S showed distinctly better therapeutic effects than Ag₂S in experiments in vivo, which further validated the enhanced regulatory effect of PDA. Altogether, a new photosensitizer with longer absorption wavelength was developed by using the hitherto-unexplored photodynamic function of Ag₂S quantum dots, which extended and enhanced the regulatory effect originating from PDA.     

General Formation of Macro-/Mesoporous Nanoshells from Interfacial Assembly of Irregular Mesostructured Nanounits

Mesoporous core–shell nanostructures with controllable ultra-large open channels in their nanoshells are of great interest. However, soft template-directed cooperative assembly to mesoporous nanoshells with highly accessible pores larger than 30 nm, or even above 50 nm into macroporous range, remains a significant challenge. Herein we report a general approach for precisely tailored coating of hierarchically macro-/mesoporous polymer and carbon shells, possessing highly accessible radial channels with extremely wide pore size distribution from ca. 10 nm to ca. 200 nm, on diverse functional materials. This strategy creates opportunities to tailor the interfacial assembly of irregular mesostructured nanounits on core materials and generate various core–shell nanomaterials with controllable pore architectures. The obtained Fe,N-doped macro-/mesoporous carbon nanoshells show enhanced electrochemical performance for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline condition.     

沉淀法高效制备聚多巴胺纳米粒子

为得到分散性和稳定性较好的聚多巴胺纳米粒子,利用“沉淀-再分散法”高效制备了聚多巴胺纳米粒子水分散液。 首先利用溶液氧化法制备了分散在水/乙醇中的聚多巴胺纳米粒子,然后向分散液中加入丙酮使聚多巴胺纳米粒子絮凝。 收集沉降物,用丙酮冲洗并干燥后,加水重新分散得到纯化的聚多巴胺纳米粒子水分散液。 丙酮沉淀法得到的聚多巴胺纳米粒子形貌规整,分散性好,粒径分布在250 nm左右,在水中具有良好的储存稳定性和光热性能,与传统的超速离心提纯法相比,产率可提高57.4%。 此方法为其之后在药物载体及光热治疗等方面的应用研究提供了便利。     

聚多巴胺功能化的四氧化三钴纳米复合材料的制备及电催化性能

通过简单的自聚合反应在四氧化三钴表面包覆聚多巴胺膜,联合使用纳米铂和辣根过氧化物酶用于电催化还原过氧化氢。结果表明,聚多巴胺的使用增强后续纳米铂的负载量和辣根过氧化物酶的生物活性;四氧化三钴、纳米铂和辣根过氧化物酶的多重信号放大作用,大大增强了该复合材料的催化活性,提高了过氧化氢传感器的灵敏度。优化实验条件下,传感器对过氧化氢的检测范围为0.1~700 μmol·L^-1,检测限为0.08 μmol·L^-1。     

Tribological behaviors of a novel trilayer nanofilm: the influence of outer chain length and interlayer thickness

Polydopamine (coded as PDA) is reported to be very adhesive and reactive due to the attached functional groups, such as amine and hydroxyl groups. In this work, taking advantage of the condensation between Si–OH of the hydroxylated alkyltrichlorosilane (ATS) and C–OH on PDA surface, ATS molecules with different chain carbon number of 10, 14 and 18 were grafted onto the 3‐aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES)‐PDA dual‐layer film, which was composed of PDA outerlayer and APTES underlayer, on Si substrate. Thus, hydrophobic trilayer films coded as APTES‐PDA‐ATS were prepared successfully. In order to reveal the dependence of the tribological behaviors upon the microstructures of the film, tribological experiments were conducted on an atomic force microscope and a ball‐on‐plate tribometer. Experimental results showed that the (micro‐) friction reducing (characterized by a parameter of relative friction coefficient or friction coefficient, RFC or FC) and macro‐wear resisting (characterized by anti‐wear life) behaviors were related with the chain length of outerlayer and the PDA thickness. Specifically, on one hand, as the chain length increases, RFC/FC decreased and macro anti‐wear life lengthened; on the other hand, as PDA gets thicker, RFC increased and the anti‐wear life enhanced. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polydopamine-Assisted Rapid One-Step Immobilization of L-Arginine in Capillary as Immobilized Chiral Ligands for Enantioseparation of Dansyl Amino Acids by Chiral Ligand Exchange Capillary Electrochromatography

Herein, a novel L-arginine (L-Arg)-modified polydopamine (PDA)-coated capillary (PDA/L-Arg@capillary) was firstly fabricated via the basic amino-acid-induced PDA co-deposition strategy and employed to constitute a new chiral ligand exchange capillary electrochromatography (CLE-CEC) method for the high-performance enantioseparation of D,L-amino acids (D,L-AAs) with L-Arg as the immobilized chiral ligand coordinating with the central metal ion Zn(II) as running buffer. Assisted by hydrothermal treatment, the robust immobilization of L-Arg on the capillary inner wall could be facilely achieved within 1 h, prominently improving the synthesis efficiency and simplifying the preparation procedure. The successful preparation of PDA/L-Arg coatings in the capillary was systematically characterized and confirmed using several methods. In comparison with bare and PDA-functionalized capillaries, the enantioseparation capability of the presented CLE-CEC system was significantly enhanced. Eight D,L-AAs were completely separated and three pairs were partially separated under the optimal conditions. The prepared PDA/L-Arg@capillary showed good repeatability and stability. The potential mechanism of the greatly enhanced enantioseparation performance obtained by PDA/L-Arg@capillary was also explored. Moreover, the proposed method was further utilized for studying the enzyme kinetics of L-glutamic dehydrogenase, exhibiting its promising prospects in enzyme assays and other related applications.     

The Photophysics and Photochemistry of Melanin- Like Nanomaterials Depend on Morphology and Structure

Melanin-like nanomaterials have found application in a large variety of high economic and social impact fields as medicine, energy conversion and storage, photothermal catalysis and environmental remediation. These materials have been used mostly for their optical and electronic properties, but also for their high biocompatibility and simplicity and versatility of preparation. Beside this, their chemistry is complex and it yields structures with different molecular weight and composition ranging from oligomers, to polymers as well as nanoparticles (NP). The comprehension of the correlation of the different compositions and morphologies to the optical properties of melanin is still incomplete and challenging, even if it is fundamental also from a technological point of view. In this minireview we focus on scientific papers, mostly recent ones, that indeed examine the link between composition and structural feature and photophysical and photochemical properties proposing this approach as a general one for future research.     

Zwitterionic Polydopamine Engineered Interface for In Vivo Sensing with High Biocompatibility

Electrochemical sensing performance is often compromised by electrode biofouling (e.g., proteins nonspecific binding) in complex biological fluids; however, the design and construction of a robust biointerface remains a great challenge. Herein, inspired by nature, we demonstrate a robust polydopamine-engineered biointerfacing, to tailing zwitterionic molecules (i.e., sulfobetaine methacrylate, SBMA) through Michael Addition. The SBMA-PDA biointerface can resist proteins nonspecific binding in complex biological fluids while enhancing interfacial electron transfer and electrochemical stability of the electrode. In addition, this sensing interface can be integrated with tissue-implantable electrode for in vivo analysis with improved sensing performance, preserving ca. 92.0% of the initial sensitivity after 2 h of implantation in brain tissue, showing low acute neuroinflammatory responses and good stability both in normal and in Parkinson′s disease (PD) rat brain tissue.     

聚多巴胺还原高锰酸钾制备二氧化锰阵列纳米管

以通过水热法在石英玻璃片表面合成的ZnO纳米棒为模板,在其表面生成聚多巴胺薄膜,然后与KMnO4反应,制备了MnO_2阵列纳米管。经表征发现,制备的MnO_2纳米管形态良好,在基底表面的附着力强;所制备的MnO_2为非晶型。由于ZnO模板易合成、易去除、形态好,且聚多巴胺薄膜的生成方法也很简便易行,使得该制备MnO_2纳米管阵列的方法具有简便、快捷、适用性广等的特性,对MnO_2新形态纳米结构的构建具有一定的启示作用。