Highly Efficient Ir(III)-Coumarin Photo-Redox Catalyst for Synergetic Multi-Mode Cancer Photo-Therapy

Four photo-catalysts of the general formula [Ir(CO6/ppy)₂(L)]Cl where CO6=coumarin 6 ( Ir1 – Ir3 ), ppy=2-phenylpyridine ( Ir4 ), L=4′-(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)-2,2′ : 6′,2′′-terpyridine ( Ir1 ), 4′-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-2,2′ : 6′,2′′-terpyridine ( Ir2 and Ir4 ), and 4-([2,2′ : 6′,2′′-terpyridin]-4′-yl)-N,N-dimethylaniline ( Ir3 ) were synthesized and characterized. These photostable photo-catalysts ( Ir1 – Ir3 ) showed strong visible light absorption between 400–550 nm. Upon light irradiation (465 and 525 nm), Ir1 – Ir3 generated singlet oxygen and induced rapidly photo-catalytic oxidation of cellular coenzymes NAD(P)H. Ir1 – Ir3 showed time-dependent cellular uptake with excellent intracellular retention efficiency. Upon green light irradiation (525 nm), Ir2 provided a much higher photo-index (PI=793) than the clinically used photosensitizer, 5-aminolevulinicacid (5-ALA, PI>30) against HeLa cancer cells. The observed necro-apoptotic anticancer activity of Ir2 was due to the Ir2 triggered photo-induced intracellular redox imbalance (by NAD(P)H oxidation and ROS generation) and change in the mitochondrial membrane potential. Remarkably, Ir2 showed in vivo photo-induced catalytic anticancer activity in mouse models.     

Effect of temperature on the interactions between cellulose and lignin via molecular dynamics simulations

Cellulose - Heating is essential in various biomass pre-treatments and thermal conversion processes. It is of practical significance to study the characteristics of cellulose-lignin and...     

MWCNTs/hydroxypropyl cellulose/polyethylene glycol-based shape-stabilized phase change materials

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is widely used as phase change materials (PCMs). However, the leakage and low thermal conductivity issues restrict its...     

Optimal Scheduling Algorithms of System Chip Power Density Based on Network on Chip

Russian Physics Journal - The improvement of chip integration leads to the increase of power density of system chips, which leads to the overheating of system chips. When dispatching the power...     

The effect of scintillator materials on the fast neutron multiplicity measurement

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - To analyze the effect of scintillator detectors on the fast neutron multiplicity, this paper uses Geant4 and Matlab to simulate and study three...     

Multifunctional fibrous wound dressings for refractory wound healing

Refractory wounds have always been an important issue to healthcare systems, whose healing process is always delayed by multiple factors, including bacterial infections, chronic inflammation, and excessive exudates, etc. Employing multifunctional wound dressings is recognized as an effective strategy to deal with refractory wounds, which has yielded promising outcomes in recent years. Among these advanced wound dressings, fibrous dressings have gained growing attention due to their unique merits. Such wound dressings have demonstrated great potential in delivering theranostic agents, such as antibacterial agents, anti-inflammatory drugs, growth factors, and diagnostic probes, etc., for the purposes of accelerating wound healing. This paper reviews the development of multifunctional fibrous dressings and their applications in treating refractory wounds. The construction approaches of novel fibrous dressing with capabilities of antibacterial, anti-inflammation, exudate management and diagnosis were also introduced. Furthermore, the existing problems and challenges are also discussed briefly.     

Systematic Modulation of Thiol Functionalities in Inexpensive Porous Polymers for Effective Mercury Removal

Through accumulation, mercury contamination in aquatic systems still poses serious health risks despite the strict regulations on drinking water and industrial discharge. One effective strategy against this is adsorptive removal, in which a suitably functionalized porous material is added to water treatment protocols. Thiol (SH) group-grafted structures perform commendably; however, insufficient attention is paid to the cost, scalability, and reusability or how the arrangement of sulfur atoms could affect the Hg^II binding strength. We used an inexpensive and scalable porous covalent organic polymer (COP-130) to systematically introduce thiol functional groups with precise chain lengths and sulfur content. Thiol-functionalized COP-130 demonstrates enhanced wettability and excellent Hg^II uptake of up to 936 mg g⁻¹, with fast kinetics and exceptionally high selectivity. These Hg adsorbents are easily regenerated with HCl and can be used at least six times without loss of capacity even after treatment with strong acid, a rare performance in the domain of Hg-removal research.     

Electrochemically Determining Electronic Structure of ZnO Quantum Dots with Different Surface Ligands

The electronic structure of quantum dots (QDs) including band edges and possible trap states is an important physical property for optoelectronic applications. The reliable determination of the energy levels of QDs remains a big challenge. Herein we employ cyclic voltammetry (CV) to determine the energy levels of three types of ZnO QDs with different surface ligands. Coupled with spectroscopic techniques, it is found that the onset potential of the first reductive wave is likely related to the conduction band edges while the first oxidative wave originates from the trap states. The determined specific energy levels in CV further demonstrates that the ZnO QDs without surface ligands mainly have oxygen interstitial defects whilst the ZnO QDs covered with ligands contain oxygen vacancies. The present electrochemical method offers a powerful and effective way to determine the energy levels of wide bandgap ZnO QDs, which will boost their device performance.     

Phosphoric-Acid Retention in High-Temperature Proton-Exchange Membranes

Great efforts have been conducted to develop high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) due to its features of enhanced electrocatalyst reactivity, simplified hydrothermal management system and high CO tolerance of catalysts, and remarkable progress has been achieved. However, the easy leaching of phosphoric acid (PA) from the membranes during operation limits its commercial scale-up in complicated environments. This concept here mainly focuses on the recent developments for mitigation of PA loss in PEMs. The probable mechanisms of PA loss are proposed. The approaches to improve PA retention for example via introduction of phosphonic acid by covalent bond, using ion-pairs interaction and siphoning effect, and blending with inorganic nanoparticles are described in detail. Among these strategies, the siphoning effect from the intrinsic microporous PEMs is the most efficient and enables the cell to operate flexibly within a broad temperature range. Therefore, this concept may provide new ideas for the scientists to retain PA, to improve the cell performance and expand the potential applications of PA doped PEMs at elevated humidity and wide temperature range.