Preparing UV-resistant heterogeneous wettability patterns is critical for the practical application of surfaces with heterogeneous wettability. However, combining UV-resistant superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic materials on heterogeneous surfaces is challenging. Inspired by the structure of cell membranes, a UV-resistant heterogeneous wettability-patterned surface (UPS) is designed via laser ablation of the coating of multilayer structures. UV-resistant superhydrophobic silica patterns can be created in situ on surfaces covered with superhydrophilic TiO2 nanoparticles. The UV resistance time of the UPS with a TiO2-based surface is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that obtained with other surface molecular modification methods that require a mask. The cell-membrane-like structure of the UPS regulates the migration of internal siloxane chain segments in the hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions of the surface. The UPS enables efficient patterning of functional materials under UV irradiation, controlling the wetting behavior of liquids in open-air systems. Furthermore, its heterogeneous wettability remains stable even after 50 h of intense UV irradiation (365 nm, 500 mW cm−2). These UV-resistant heterogeneous wettability patterned surfaces will likely be applied in microfluidics, cell culture, energy conversion, and water collection in the future.

Piezoelectric materials produce charges to directly act on cancer medium or promote reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation for novel tumor therapy triggered by sonography. Currently, piezoelectric sonosensitizers are mainly used to catalyze ROS generation by band-tilting effect for sonodynamic therapy. However, it remains a challenge for piezoelectric sonosensitizers to produce high piezo-voltages to overcome the band-gap barrier for direct charge generation. Herein, the Mn-Ti bimetallic organic framework tetragonal nanosheets (MT-MOF TNS) are designed to produce high piezo-voltages for novel sono-piezo dynamic therapy (SPDT) with remarkable antitumor efficacy in vitro and in vivo. MT-MOF TNS content non-centrosymmetric secondary building units of Mn-Ti-oxo cyclic octamers with charge heterogeneous components for piezoelectricity. MT-MOF TNS promote strong sono-cavitation to insitu induce piezoelectric effect with a high sono-piezo (SP) voltage (2.9 V) to directly excite charges, which is validated by sono-piezo-excited luminescence spectrometry. The SP voltage and charges depolarize the mitochondrial and plasma membrane potentials, and cause ROS overproduction and serious tumor cell damage. Importantly, MT-MOF TNS can be decorated with targeting molecules and chemotherapeutics for more severe tumor regression by combining SPDT with chemodynamic therapy and chemotherapy. This report develops a fascinating MT-MOF piezoelectric nano-semiconductor and provides an efficient SPDT strategy for tumor treatment.

Auxetic materials are appealing due to their unique characteristics of transverse expansion while being axially stretched. Nevertheless, current auxetic materials are often produced by the introduction of diverse geometric structures through cutting or other pore-making processes, which heavily weaken their mechanical performance. Inspired by the skeleton-matrix structures in natural organisms, here we report an integrated auxetic elastomer (IAE) composed of high-modulus crosslinked poly(urethane-urea) as a skeleton and low-modulus non-crosslinked poly(urethane-urea) as a complementary-shape matrix. Benefiting from disulfide bonds and hydrogen bonds-promoted dual dynamic interfacial healing, the resulting IAE is flat, void-free, and has no sharp soft-to-hard interface. Its fracture strength and elongation at the break are increased to 400% and 150%, respectively, of the values of corrugated re-entrant skeleton alone, while the negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) reserves within a strain range of 0–104%. In addition, the advantageous mechanical and auxetic properties of this elastomer are further confirmed by finite element analysis. The concept of combining two dissimilar polymers into an integrated hybrid material solves the problem of the deterioration in mechanical performance of auxetic materials after subtractive manufacturing, while preserves the NPR effect in a large deformation, which provides a promising approach to robust auxetic materials for engineering applications.

Thin film solar cells, as a complement to silicon solar cells, are expected to play a significant role in the space industry, building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), indoor applications and tandem solar cells, where bifaciality and semitransparency are highly desired. Sb2(S,Se)3 has emerged as a promising new photovoltaic (PV) material for its high absorption coefficient, tuneable bandgap, and non-toxic and earth-abundant constituents. However, high-efficiency Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cells so far exclusively employ gold back contacts or Mo-coated glass substrates, which only allows monofacial architectures, leaving a considerable gap towards large-scale application in aforementioned fields. Here, we report a bifacial and semitransparent Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cell enabled by a fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate and an indium tin oxide (ITO) back contact, and its extended application in tandem solar cells. The transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) and the ultra-thin inner n-i-p structure provide high transmittance at the long wavelength region. Despite of the unfavourable Schottky junction and increased defect density at MnS/ITO interface, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.41% with only front illumination is achieved. On the other hand, though the varied carrier kinetic with rear illumination has a negative impact on the PCE, the internal ultrathin fully depleted absorber layer enables it to remain at a satisfying level at 6.36%, contributing to a great bifaciality of 0.86. As a result, our bifacial and semitransparent Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cells can gain great enhancement in PV performance by exploiting albedo of surroundings and show exceptional capability in absorbing non-normal incident light. Moreover, our device can be integrated into a tandem solar cell with a bottom silicon solar cell owing to its adjustable bandgap. A Sb2(S,Se)3/Si tandem solar cell with PCE of 11.66% is achieved in our preliminary trial. These exciting findings imply that bifacial and semitransparent Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cells possess tremendous potential in practical applications based on their unique characteristics.

Organic photodetectors, as an emerging wearable photoplethysmographic (PPG) technology, offer exciting opportunities for next-generation photonic healthcare electronics. However, the mutual restraints among photoresponse, structure complexity, and fabrication cost have intrinsically limited the development of organic photodetectors for ubiquitous health monitoring in daily activities. Here, we report an effective route to dramatically boost the performance of organic photodetectors with a solution-processed integration circuit for health monitoring application. Through creating an ideal metal-semiconductor junction interface that minimizes the trap states within the device, we achieve solution-printed organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with an ultrahigh signal amplification efficiency of 37.1 S A−1, approaching the theoretical thermionic limit. Consequently, monolithic integration of the OFET with an organic photoconductor enables the remarkable amplification of photoresponse signal-to-noise ratio by more than four orders of magnitude from 5.5 to 4.6 × 105, which is able to meet the demand for accurately extracting physiological information from the PPG waveforms. Our work offers an effective and versatile approach to greatly enhance the photodetector performance, promising to revolutionize health monitoring technologies.

Piezocatalytic therapy, which generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) under mechanical force, has garnered extensive attention for its use in cancer therapy owing to its deep tissue penetration depth and less O2-dependence. However, the piezocatalytic therapeutic efficiency is limited owing to the poor piezoresponse, low separation of electron-hole pairs, and complicated tumor microenvironment (TME). Herein, a biodegradable, porous Mn-doped ZnO nanocluster with enhanced piezoelectric effect is constructed via doping engineering. Mn-doping not only induces lattice distortion to increase polarization but also creates rich oxygen vacancy (OV) for suppressing the recombination of electron-hole pairs, leading to high-efficiency generation of ROS under ultrasound (US) irradiation. Moreover, Mn-doped ZnO shows TME-responsive multienzyme-mimic activity to generate ·OH and ·O2‒, as well as glutathione (GSH) depletion ability owing to the mixed valence of Mn (II/III), further aggravating oxidative stress in tumor cells. Density functional theory calculations show that Mn-doping can improve the piezocatalytic performance because of the enhancement of polarization and enzyme activity of Mn-ZnO due to the presence of OV. Beneficiating from the US-triggered boosting of ROS generation and GSH depletion ability, Mn-ZnO can significantly accelerate the accumulation of lipid peroxide and inactivate glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) to induce ferroptosis. Our work may provide new guidance for exploring novel piezoelectric sonosensitizers for tumor therapy.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) gene-editing technology holds significant promise for manipulating single or multiple tumor-associated genes and engineering immune cells to treat cancers. Currently, most gene-editing strategies rely on viral delivery; yet, while being efficient, many limitations, mainly from safety and packaging capacity considerations, hinder the use of viral CRISPR vectors in cancer therapy. In contrast, the recent development of non-viral CRISPR/Cas9 nanoformulations has paved the way for better cancer gene editing, as these nanoformulations can be engineered to improve safety, efficiency, and specificity through optimizing the packaging capacity, pharmacokinetics, and targetability. In this review, we highlight the advance in non-viral CRISPR delivery and discuss how these approaches could be potentially used to treat cancers in addressing the aforementioned issues, followed by our perspectives in designing a proper CRISPR/Cas9-based cancer nanomedicine system with translational potential.

The unique properties of hydrogels enable the design of life-like soft intelligent systems. However, stimuli-responsive hydrogels still suffer from limited actuation control. Direct electronic control of electronically conductive hydrogels could solve this challenge and allow direct integration with modern electronic systems. W e demonstrate an electrochemically controlled nanowire composite hydrogel with high in-plane conductivity that stimulates a uniaxial electrochemical osmotic expansion. This materials system allows precisely controlled shape-morphing at only -1 V, where capacitive charging of the hydrogel bulk leads to a large uniaxial expansion of up to 300%, caused by the ingress of ∼700 water molecules per electron-ion pair. The material retains its state when turned off, which is ideal for electrotunable membranes as the inherent coupling between the expansion and mesoporosity enables electronic control of permeability for adaptive separation, fractionation, and distribution. Used as electrochemical osmotic hydrogel actuators, they achieve an electroactive pressure of up to 0.7 MPa (1.4 MPa versus dry) and a work density of ∼150 kJ m–3 (2 MJ m–3 versus dry). This new materials system paves the way to integrate actuation, sensing, and controlled permeation into advanced soft intelligent systems.

Abnormal salt crystals with unconventional stoichiometries, such as Na2Cl, Na3Cl, K2Cl, and CaCl crystals that have been explored in reduced graphene oxide membranes (rGOMs) or diamond anvil cell, hold great promise in applications due to their unique electronic, magnetic, and optical properties predicted in theory. However, the low content of these crystals, only less than 1% in rGOM, limits their research interest and utility in applications. Here, w e report a high-yield synthesis of 2D abnormal crystals with unconventional stoichiometries achieved by applying negative potential on rGOM. W e obtained a more than ten-fold increase in the abnormal Na2Cl crystals using potential of −0.6 V, resulting in an atomic content of 13.4 ± 4.7% for Na on rGOM. Direct observations by transmission electron microscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy demonstrated a unique piezoelectric behavior arise from 2D Na2Cl crystals with square structure. The output voltage increased from 0 to ∼180 mV in broad 0°–150° bending angle regime, which meets the voltage requirement of most nanodevices in realistic applications. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the applied negative potential of the graphene surface can strengthen the effect of the Na+-π interaction and reduce the electrostatic repulsion between cations, making more Na2Cl crystals formed.

Hydrazine-assisted water electrolysis provides new opportunities to enable energy-saving hydrogen production while solve the issue of hydrazine pollution. Here, we report the synthesis of compressively strained Ni2P as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for boosting both the anodic hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR) and cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Different from a multistep synthetic method that induces lattice strains by creating core-shell structures, we develop a facile strategy to tune strains of Ni2P via the dual cation-codoping. The obtained Ni2P with a compressive strain of −3.62% exhibits significantly enhanced activity for both the HzOR and HER than counterpart with tensile strains and without strains. Consequently, the optimized Ni2P delivers current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm−2 at small cell voltages of 0.16 and 0.39 V for hydrazine-assisted water electrolysis, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the compression strain promotes water dissociation and concurrently tunes the adsorption strength of hydrogen intermediates, thereby facilitating the HER process on Ni2P. As for the HzOR, the compression strain reduces the energy barrier of potential-determining step (PDS) for the dehydrogenation of *N2H4 to *N2H3. Clearly, this work not only paves a facile pathway to synthesis lattice-strained electrocatalysts via the dual cations-codoping.

TEM Cantilever Chips

Drug Delivery

Photoelectrodes

The Li plating behavior of Li-ion batteries under fast charging conditions is elusive due to a lack of reliable indicators of the Li plating onset. In this work, the relaxation time constant of the charge transfer process (τCT) is proposed to be promising for the determination of Li plating onset. A novel pulse/relaxation test method enables a rapid access to the τCT of the graphite anode during battery operation, applicable to both half and full batteries. The diagnosis of Li plating at varying temperatures and charging rates enriches the cognition of Li plating behaviors. Li plating at low temperatures and high charging rates can be avoided because of the battery voltage limitations. Nevertheless, after the onset, severe Li plating evolves rapidly under harsh charging conditions, while the Li plating process under benign charging conditions is accompanied by a simultaneous Li intercalation process. The quantitative estimates indicate that Li plating at high temperatures/high charging rates leads to more irreversible capacity losses. This facile method with rational scientific principles can provide inspiration for exploring the safe boundaries of Li-ion batteries.

Solid-state lithium-metal batteries have been identified as a strategic research direction for the electric vehicle industry because of their promising high energy density and potential characteristic safety. However, the intrinsic mechanical properties of solid materials cause inevitable electro-chemo-mechanical failure of electrodes and electrolytes during charging and discharging; these failure mechanisms include lithium penetration and formation of cracks and voids, which pose a serious challenge for the long cycle life of solid-state lithium-metal batteries. Here, a short overview of the recent advances with a view to understand this challenge is provided. Furthermore, new insights into the cross-talk behavior between the cathode and lithium-metal anode are provided based on the non-uniform Li+ flux inducing interactional electro-chemo-mechanical failure. Furthermore, guidelines for designing stable solid-state lithium-metal batteries and research directions to figure out the interelectrode-talk-related electro-chemo-mechanical failure mechanism are presented, which can be significant for accelerating the development of solid-state lithium batteries.

The addition of aqueous hydrohalic acids (HX, X = F, Cl, Br) during the synthesis of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) is now widely employed to achieve high-quality QDs. However, this reliance on the use of aqueous solutions is incompatible with oxygen- and water-sensitive precursors such as those used in the synthesis of Te-alloyed ZnSe QDs. Herein, we show this incompatibility, leads to phase segregation into Te-rich and Te-poor regions, causing spectral broadening and luminescence peak shifting under high laser irradiation and applied electrical bias. Here we report a synthetic strategy to produce anhydrous-HF in-situ by using benzenecarbonyl fluoride (BF) as a chemical additive. Through in-situ 19F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we find that BF reacts with surfactants in tandem, ultimately producing intermediary F···H···trioctylamine adducts. These act as a pseudo-HF source that releases anhydrous HF. The controlled release of HF during the nucleation and growth steps homogenizes the Te distribution in the ZnSeTe lattice, leading to spectrally-stable blue-emitting QDs under increasing laser flux from ∼3 μW to ∼12 mW and applied bias from 2.6 to 10 V. Single-dot photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and analyses of the absorption, PL and transient absorption spectra together with density functional theory point to the role of anhydrous HF as a Te homogenizer.

The high-density integration in information technology fuels the research on functional 3D nanodevices. Particularly ferromagnets promise multifunctional 3D devices for nonvolatile data storage, high-speed data processing and non-charge-based logic operations via spintronics and magnonics concepts. However, 3D nanofabrication of ferromagnets is extremely challenging. In this work, we report an additive manufacturing methodology and fabricate unprecedented 3D ferromagnetic nanonetworks with a woodpile-structure unit cell. We investigate their collective spin dynamics (magnons) at frequencies up to 25 GHz by Brillouin Light Scattering (BLS) microscopy and micromagnetic simulations. A clear discrepancy of about 10 GHz is found between the bulk and surface modes which we engineer by different unit cell sizes in the Ni-based nanonetworks. The angle- and spatially-dependent modes demonstrate opportunities for multi-frequency signal processing in 3D circuits via magnons. The developed synthesis route will allow one to create 3D magnonic crystals with chiral unit cells which are a prerequisite towards surface modes with topologically protected properties.

Two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials have been of interest due to their unique long-range magnetic ordering in the low-dimensional regime and potential applications in spintronics. Currently, most of the studies are focused on strippable van der Waals magnetic materials with layered structures, which typically suffer from a poor stability and scarce species. Spinel oxides have a good environmental stability and rich magnetic properties. However, the isotropic bonding and close-packed nonlayered crystal structure make their 2D growth challenging, let alone the phase engineering. Herein, we report a phase-controllable synthesis of 2D single-crystalline spinel-type oxides for the first time. Using the van der Waals epitaxy strategy, the thicknesses of the obtained tetragonal and hexagonal manganese oxide (Mn3O4) nanosheets can be tuned down to 7.1 nm and one unit cell (0.7 nm), respectively. The magnetic properties of these two phases are evaluated using vibrating-sample magnetometry and first-principle calculations. Both structures exhibit a Curie temperature of 48 K. Owing to its ultrathin geometry, the Mn3O4 nanosheet exhibits a superior ultraviolet detection performance with an ultralow noise power density of 0.126 pA/Hz1/2. This study broadens the range of 2D magnetic semiconductors and highlights their potential applications in future information devices.

The fast degradation of the charge-extraction interface at indium tin oxide (ITO) poses a significant obstacle to achieving long-term stability for organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, w e developed a sustainable approach for recycling non-sustainable indium to construct efficient and stable OSCs and scale-up modules. It is revealed that the recovered indium chloride (InCl3) from indium oxide waste can be applied as an effective hole-selective interfacial layer for the ITO electrode (noted as InCl3-ITO anode) through simple aqueous fabrication, facilitating not only energy level alignment to photoactive blends, but also mitigating parasitic absorption and charge recombination losses of the corresponding OSCs. As results, OSCs and modules consisting of InCl3-ITO anodes have achieved remarkable power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 18.92% and 15.20% (active area of 18.73 cm2), respectively. More importantly, the InCl3-ITO anode can significantly extend the thermal stability of derived OSCs, with an extrapolated T80 lifetime of approximately 10,000 hours.

A cohort of 47 patients is screened for pancreatic cancer-precursors with a portable 96-well bioelectronic sensing-array for single-molecule assay in cysts fluid and blood plasma deployable at point-of-care (POC). Pancreatic cancer precursors are mucinous cysts diagnosed with a sensitivity of at most 80% by state-of-the-art cytopathological molecular analyses (e.g., KRASmut DNA). Adding the simultaneous assay of proteins related to malignant transformation (e.g., MUC1 and CD55) is deemed essential to enhance diagnostic accuracy. The bioelectronic array here proposed, based on the SiMoT (Single-Molecule-with-a-large-Transistor) technology, can assay both nucleic acids and proteins at the single-molecule Limit-Of-Identification, LOI (<1% of false-positives and false-negatives). It comprises an ELISA-like 8×12-array organic-electronics disposable cartridge with an electrolyte-gated organic transistor sensor array, and a reusable reader, integrating a custom Si-IC chip, operating via software installed on a USB-connected smart device. The cartridge is complemented by a 3D-printed sensing gate cover plate. KRASmut, MUC1, and CD55 biomarkers either in plasma or cysts-fluid from 5–6 patients at a time, are multiplexed at single-molecule LOI in 1.5 hours. The pancreatic cancer precursors are classified via a machine-learning analysis resulting in at least 96% diagnostic-sensitivity and 100% diagnostic-specificity. This preliminary study opens the way to POC liquid-biopsy-based early diagnosis of pancreatic-cancer precursors in plasma.