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In this work, one-step electrodeposition of multiwalled carbon nanotube/NiCo dihydroxide nanocomposite (MWCNT/NiCo-DH) was developed to fabricate supercapacitor positive electrode. However, the poor adhesion of the composite to the Ni foam (NiF) seriously hampered its practical applications. We discovered that by modifying the Ni foam with Ni3Se2, the adhesion of the MWCNT/NiCo-DH to the Ni foam was dramatically improved. By investigating the obtained MWCNT/NiCo-DH/Ni3Se2/NiF, it was found out that the introduction of Ni3Se2not only makes the electrode materials firmly attach to the surface of the Ni foam but also significantly enhances its electrochemical behaviors. MWCNT/NiCo-DH/Ni3Se2/NiF presents a high areal capacity of 3.55 C cm−2at a very high current density of 60 mA cm−2. It is especially worth noting that MWCNT/NiCo-DH/Ni3Se2/NiF retains almost 100% of its initial capacity even after 2000 consecutive galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles, suggesting excellent cycling stability. An asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) is also assembled with MWCNT/NiCo-DH/Ni3Se2/NiF as the positive electrode and active carbon as the negative electrode. The ASC displays a prominent energy density of 35.52 Wh kg−1at a high power density of 485.12 W kg−1. The excellent capacitive performance of MWCNT/NiCo-DH/Ni3Se2/NiF is partly because of the modification of NiF with Ni3Se2and partly due to the incorporation of MWCNT, which improves the electric conductivity of the electrode material.

Dry powder inhaler (DPI) products are commonly formulated as a mixture of micronized drug particles and large carrier particles, with or without additional fine particle excipients, followed by final powder filling into dose containment systems such as capsules, blisters, or reservoirs. DPI product manufacturing consists of a series of unit operations, including particle size reduction, blending, and filling. This review provides an overview of the relevant critical process parameters used for jet milling, high-shear blending, and dosator/drum capsule filling operations across commonly utilized instruments. Further, this review describes the recent achievements regarding the application of empirical and mechanistic models, especially discrete element method (DEM) simulation, in DPI process development. Although to date only limited modeling/simulation work has been accomplished, in the authors’ perspective, process design and development are destined to be more modeling/simulation driven with the emphasis on evaluating the impact of material attributes/process parameters on process performance. The advancement of computational power is expected to enable modeling/simulation approaches to tackle more complex problems with better accuracy when dealing with real-world DPI process operations.

Appropriate treatments for acute traumas tend to avoid hemorrhages, vascular damage, and infections. However, in the homeostasis-imbalanced wound microenvironment, currently developed therapies could not precisely and controllably deliver biomacromolecular drugs, which are confronted with challenges due to large molecular weight, poor biomembrane permeability, low dosage, rapid degradation, and bioactivity loss. To conquer this, we construct a simple and effective layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly transdermal delivery patch, bearing microneedles (MN) coated with recombinant human epidermal growth factor (LBL MN-rhEGF) for a sustained release to wound bed driven by typical electrostatic force. Pyramidal LBL MN-rhEGF patches hold so enough mechanical strength to penetrate the stratum corneum, and generated microchannels allow rhEGF direct delivery in situ. The administrable delivery of biomacromolecular rhEGF through hierarchically coated MN arrays follows the diffusion mechanism of Fick’s second law. Numerous efforts further have illustrated that finger-pressing LBL MN-rhEGF patches could not only promote cell proliferation of normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in vitrobut also take significant effects (regenerative epidermis: ∼144 μm; pro-angiogenesis: higher CD31 expression) in accelerating wound healing of mechanically injured rats, compared to the traditional dressing, which relies on passive diffusion. Our proof-of-concept features novel LBL biomacromolecular drug-delivery systems and self-administrated precision medicine modes at the point of care.

Being major species of atmospheric reactive nitrogen, nitrogen oxides (NOx= NO + NO2) have important implications for ozone and OH radical formation in addition to nitrogen cycles. Stable nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) of NOxhave been sought to track NOxemissions and NOxchemical reactivities in the atmosphere. The current atmospheric NOxcollection methods for isotopic analysis, however, largely suffer from unverified collection efficiency and/or low collection speed (<10 L/min). The latter makes it difficult to study δ15N(NOx) in pristine regions with low NOxconcentrations. Here, we present a three-dimensional (3D)-printed honeycomb denuder (3DP-HCD) system, which can effectively collect atmospheric NO2(a major part of NOx) under a variety of laboratory and field conditions. With a coating solution consisting of 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) and 25% guaiacol in methanol, the denuder system can collect NO2with nearly 100% efficiency at flow rates of up to 70 L/min, which is 7 times higher than that of the existing method and allows high-resolution (e.g., diurnal or finer resolution) NO2collection even in pristine sites. Besides, the δ15N of NO2collected by the 3DP-HCD system shows good reproducibility and consistency with the previously tested method. Preliminary results of online NO oxidation by a chrome trioxide (CrO3) oxidizer for simultaneous NO and NO2collection are also presented and discussed.

Diabetic wound healing remains a significant clinical challenge due to the complex microenvironment and attenuated endogenous electric field. Herein, a novel all‐in‐one self‐powered microneedle device (termed TZ@mMN‐TENG) is developed by combining the multifunctional microneedle carried tannin@ZnO microparticles (TZ@mMN) with the self‐powered triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). In addition to the delivery of tannin and Zn2+, TZ@mMN also effectively conducts electrical stimulation (ES) to infected diabetic wounds. As a self‐powered device, the TENG can convert biomechanical motion into exogenous ES to accelerate the infected diabetic wound healing. In vitro experiment demonstrated that TZ@mMN shows excellent conductive, high antioxidant ability, and effective antibacterial properties against both Staphylococcus aureusand Escherichia coli(>99% antibacterial rates). Besides, the TZ@mMN‐TENG can effectively promote cell proliferation and migration. In the diabetic rat full‐thickness skin wound model infected with Staphylococcus aureus, the TZ@mMN‐TENG can eliminate bacteria, accelerate epidermal growth (regenerative epidermis: ≈303.3 ± 19.1 µm), enhance collagen deposition, inhibit inflammation (lower TNF‐α and IL‐6 expression), and promote angiogenesis (higher CD31 and VEGF expression) to accelerate infected wound repair. Overall, the TZ@mMN‐TENG provides a promising strategy for clinical application in diabetic wound repair. An all‐in‐one self‐powered microneedle device (termed TZ@mMN‐TENG) is developed by combining the multifunctional microneedle carried tannin@ZnO microparticles with the self‐powered triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). The TZ@mMN‐TENG not only has antibacterial, antioxidant, anti‐inflammation, and angiogenesis abilities, but also can promote the infected diabetic wound repair through electrical stimulation (ES). It provides a promising strategy for clinical application in diabetic wound healing.

Improved techniques for the administration of chemotherapeutic drugs are required to enhance tumor therapy efficacy and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy due to insufficient targeting and limited intratumoral drug release. Controlled drug delivery systems combined with thermotherapy are expected to play an important role in personalized tumor therapy. Herein, a novel microwave-responsive transformable magnetic liquid-metal (MLM) nanoplatform is designed for effective endosomal escape that facilitates intracellular drug delivery and enhanced anticancer therapy. The MLM nanoplatform exhibits a sensitive magnetic resonance imaging function for imaging-guided therapy and brilliant synergistic effects of chemotherapy with microwave thermal therapy to kill tumor cells. Once endocytosed by targeted tumor cells, the deep penetration of microwave energy can be absorbed by the MLM nanoplatform to convert heat and reactive oxygen species, which induces the shape transformation from nanospheres to large rods, resulting in the physical disruption of the endosomal membrane for intracellular drug release. Furthermore, the MLM nanoplatform synergistic therapy could activate immunomodulatory effects by M1 macrophage polarization and T cell infiltration, thus inhibiting tumor growth and lung metastasis. This work based on microwave-driven transformable magnetic liquid-metal nanoplatform provides novel ways to precisely control drug delivery and high-efficiency cancer therapy.

Cu(II) and 1H-benzotriazole (BTA) formed stable complex, denoted as Cu-BTA, in aqueous solution. Cu-BTA can be easily anchored on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) via π–πstacking interaction. The obtained nanocomposite of Cu-BTA and GO, denoted as Cu-BTA@GO, was characterized with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cu-BTA@GO and multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) were used to modify glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The obtained modified electrode, denoted as Cu-BTA@GO/MWCNT/GCE, exhibited excellent catalytic capability toward the reduction of hydrogen peroxide and the oxidation of hydroxylamine (HA). Cu-BTA@GO/MWCNT/GCE presents wide linear range for the determination of H2O2and HA, which is 1.0 μM–2.15 mM and 1.0 μM–1.0 mM, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) for the determination of H2O2and HA is 0.1 μM and 0.31 μM, respectively. The large electroactive surface area and the extraordinary electrocatalytic capability of Cu-BTA@GO/MWCNT/GCE are probably due to the combination of Cu-BTA/GO and MWCNT.

We report the use of intramolecular cross-linking chemistry as a tool to control the self-assembly of amphiphilic diblock copolymers (di-BCPs). Two amphiphilic di-BCPs of poly(N,N′-dimethylacrylamide)-block-polystyrene (PDMA-b-PS) with photo-cross-linkable cinnamoyl groups in either hydrophobic or hydrophilic blocks were prepared using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. Intramolecular photo-cross-linking of cinnamoyl groups led to the formation of tadpole-shaped polymer single-chain nanoparticles (SCNPs) consisting of a self-collapsed block as the “head” and an un-cross-linked block as the “tail”. When intramolecular photo-cross-linking was carried out in hydrophobic PS blocks, a clear morphological transition from branched cylindrical micelles (for the linear di-BCP) to completely spherical micelles at a dimerization degree of ∼63% was observed. A pattern of morphological transitions from cylindrical micelles to spherical micelles is observed through stepwise downsizing the length of cylindrical micelles when increasing the self-collapse degree of PS blocks, whereas, in case of photo-cross-linking carried out in hydrophilic PDMA blocks, the size of micelles showed a dramatic increase due to the shift of hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic balance. When the cross-linking degree of PDMA blocks reached >60%, tadpole-shaped SCNPs assembled into nonconventional aggregates with a nonsmooth surface. Our results illustrate the impact of chain topologies on the self-assembly outcomes of amphiphilic di-BCPs, which likely opens a door to control the micellar morphologies from just one parent linear di-BCP, rather than resynthesizing BPCs with different volume fractions of the two blocks.

Besides barrier functions, skin possesses multiple sentiences to external stimuli (e.g., temperature, force, and humidity) for human‐outside interaction. Thus, skincare should be taken very seriously, especially by patients with sensory disorders. However, currently available skin‐mimicking devices are always limited by so much insufficient response functions and nontunable interface behaviors so as not to realize precise health monitoring and self‐defense against injury. Herein, a bioinspired cutaneous receptor‐perceptual system (CRPS) patch is presented, integrating hybrid pH indicators and triboelectric nanogenerators into biointerface film‐adhesives that are fabricated through facile layer‐by‐layer (LBL) self‐assembly of amide and Schiff‐base linkages between alginate grafted with N‐hydroxysuccinimide ester (AN), tannic acid (TA), and polyethylenimine (PEI). This CRPS patch is adhered robustly to the soft‐curved skin surface without failure via “molecular suturing,” and amino acid enables its benign peel‐on‐demand from tissue interfaces. Postdamage self‐healing brings it without surgical reoperation, avoiding extra cost, pain, as well as infection risks. Significantly, CRPS patches as artificial chemo/mechanoreceptors can remotely visualize skin physiological status by pH‐induced chromism using smartphones and prevent skin contact injury by tactility‐driven self‐powered electrical signals. Overall, the LBL‐based strategy to create controllably biointerface‐adhesive CRPS patches will usher in a new era of the mobihealth care platform supporting smart diagnosis and self‐protection. Advanced human skin‐mimicking devices remain challenging because of inherent complex physiological structures and functions. A pH/tactility dual‐sensing layer‐by‐layer self‐assembly film patch can monitor real‐time pH and contact injury well, sending immediate feedback of red, green, and blue (RGB) values and self‐powered current signals to an app. This patch with post‐adhesion removal‐on‐demand and post‐damage self‐healing properties features skin‐inspired receptors for digital healthcare.

Reliability analysis and reliability-based design have attracted huge attention since their origin, especially in the engineering design optimization field. Integrating a novel grid feature (GF) mechanism into the weighted simulation method (WSM), a grid feature-based weighted simulation method (GFWSM) is proposed in this paper. By sorting the samples in the random variable space, the GF mechanism serializes the failure probability calculation process, which can reduce the number of performance function evaluations required by the WSM. The proposed GFWSM is integrated into an efficient evolutionary multi-objective optimizer, disruption-based multi-objective equilibrium optimization algorithm (DMOEOA), for solving multi-objective reliability-based design optimization (MORBDO) problems. Different reliability analysis examples are employed to verify the advantages of the proposed GFWSM. Various constrained multi-objective reliability-based design optimization problems have been selected to test the effectiveness of the GFWSM-DMOEOA algorithm. The simulation results indicate that GFWSM and GFWSM-DMOEOA algorithm have achieved a good balance between accuracy and efficiency.

The catalytic oxidation reaction of CO has recently attracted much attention because of its potential applications in the treatment of air pollutants. The development of inexpensive transition metal oxide catalysts that exhibit high catalytic activities for CO oxidation is in high demand. However, these metal oxide catalysts are susceptible to moisture, as they can be quickly deactivated in the presence of trace amounts of moisture. This article reports a facile synthesis of highly active Co3O4@CNT catalysts for CO oxidation under moisture-rich conditions. Our synthetic routes are based on the in situ growth of ultrafine Co3O4nanoparticles (NPs) (∼2.5 nm) on pristine multiwalled CNTs in the presence of polymer surfactant. Using a 1% CO and 2% O2balanced in N2(normal) feed gas (3–10 ppm moisture), a 100% CO conversion with Co3O4@CNT catalysts was achieved at various temperatures ranging from 25 to 200 °C at a low O2concentration. The modulation of surface hydrophobicity of CNT substrates, other than direct surface modification on the Co3O4catalytic centers, is an efficient method to enhance the moisture resistance of metal oxide catalysts for CO oxidation. After introducing fluorinated alkyl chains on CNT surfaces, the superhydrophobic Co3O4@CNT exhibited outstanding activity and durability at 150 °C in the presence of moisture-saturated feed gas. These materials may ultimately present new opportunities to improve the moisture resistance of metal oxide catalysts for CO oxidation.

In this review, we outline the most recent publications and patents focusing on hybrid micellar aggregates comprising nanoparticles (NPs) and block copolymers (BCPs) in the last decade, which have attracted much interest owing to their potential applications in the fields of optics, electronics, sensors, drug delivery and release, bioimaging, targeting, and catalysis. Among them, precise location and assembly of NPs in polymers are of great importance in realizing the formation of nanocomposites with high performances. BCPs assembly offers a simple and efficient route to direct and locate NPs in polymer matrix. First, we will outline different synthetic strategies for directing inorganic NPs into the micellar aggregates based on co-assembly of NPs and BCPs. We will then discuss principles and possible mechanisms for precisely regulating NPs in polymer microdomains of BCPs based on the experimental and theoretical results. Potential applications of the hybrid micellar aggregates will finally be discussed, followed by current and future developments of this emerging area.

A general and versatile route to prepare hierarchical polymer microparticles via interfacial instabilities of emulsion droplets is demonstrated. Uniform emulsion droplets containing hydrophobic polymers and n‐hexadecanol (HD) are generated through microfluidic devices. When organic solvent diffuses through the aqueous phase and evaporates, shrinking emulsion droplets containing HD and polystyrene (PS) will trigger interfacial instabilities to form microparticles with wrinkled surfaces. Interestingly, surface‐textures of the particles can be accurately tailored from smooth to high textures by varying the HD concentration and/or the rate of solvent evaporation. Moreover, composite particles can be generated by suspending different hydrophobic species to the initial polymer solutions. This versatile approach for preparing particles with highly textured surfaces can be extended to other type of hydrophobic polymers which will find potential applications in the fields of drug delivery, tissue engineering, catalysis, coating, and device fabrication.

Worm holes: Cylindrical or wormlike block copolymer micelles with gold nanoparticles encapsulated in a micellar core were fabricated through directed supramolecular assembly. This versatile approach allows fine‐tuning of interparticle spacing and micellar morphology by varying the content of the nanoparticles or hydrogen bonding agent in the supramolecular assemblies.

Wurmlöcher: Zylindrische oder wurmförmige Blockcopolymermicellen mit Goldnanopartikeln, die in einem micellaren Kern eingeschlossen sind, wurden durch gesteuerte supramolekulare Organisation hergestellt. Dieser vielseitige Ansatz ermöglicht die Abstimmung der Partikelabstände und der Micelltopologie durch Variation des Gehalts an Nanopartikeln oder H‐Brückenbildern in den supramolekularen Anordnungen.

Background: Drought threatens the food supply of the world population. Dissecting the dynamic responses of plants to drought will be beneficial for breeding drought-tolerant crops, as the genetic controls of these responses remain largely unknown. Results: Here we develop a high-throughput multiple optical phenotyping system to noninvasively phenotype 368 maize genotypes with or without drought stress over a course of 98 days, and collected multiple optical images, including color camera scanning, hyperspectral imaging, and X-ray computed tomography images. We develop high-throughput analysis pipelines to extract image-based traits (i-traits). Of these i-traits, 10,080 were effective and heritable indicators of maize external and internal drought responses. An i-trait-based genome-wide association study reveals 4322 significant locus-trait associations, representing 1529 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and 2318 candidate genes, many that co-localize with previously reported maize drought responsive QTLs. Expression QTL (eQTL) analysis uncovers many local and distant regulatory variants that control the expression of the candidate genes. We use genetic mutation analysis to validate two new genes, ZmcPGM2and ZmFAB1A, which regulate i-traits and drought tolerance. Moreover, the value of the candidate genes as drought-tolerant genetic markers is revealed by genome selection analysis, and 15 i-traits are identified as potential markers for maize drought tolerance breeding. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that combining high-throughput multiple optical phenotyping and GWAS is a novel and effective approach to dissect the genetic architecture of complex traits and clone drought-tolerance associated genes.

Herein, magnetic starch-based composite hydrogel microspheres (SCHMs) were produced via a Diels-Alder reaction during spray drying. The adsorption behavior of SCHMs for methylene blue (MB) was investigated systematically. The adsorption process could be described by Langmuir isothermal model and pseudo-first-order kinetic model with R2> 0.95 and R2> 0.98, respectively, resulting from its dominating physical adsorption. The thermodynamic studies showed the adsorption was spontaneous and the nature of adsorption was endothermic due to that the free energy ∆G was a negative value and the enthalpy ∆H was a positive value. The absorbent had good reusability with 90.5% of removal efficiency after 5 cycles. In addition, the effects of concentration, pH and temperature on the adsorption of MB by SCHMs were optimized using the Box-Behnken Design and response surface methodology. The order of three factors affecting the adsorption capacity of SCHMS is initial pH > initial concentration > temperature. Due to their safe, non-toxic and easily recycled advantages, SCHMs have the potential to be applied to water treatment in the future.

Intelligent manufacturing is a focus of current manufacturing research, and, in combination with the Internet, it enables accurate real-time control of intelligent equipment. Highly accurate real-time prosthesis control has very important applications in therapeutics, intelligent prosthesis, and other fields. However, the applicability of the current electromyogram signal recognition method is not strong because of multiple factors. These include considering one objective (correctness) only and the inability to consider differences of recognition accuracy between actions, to recognize the number of channels, or to recognize computational complexity. In this article, we propose a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on a decomposition-based multi-objective differential evolution framework to construct a multi-objective model for electromyogram signals with multiple features and channels. Such channels and features are balanced and selected by using a support vector machine as an electromyogram signal classifier. Results of substantial experiment analyses indicate that the multi-objective electromyogram signal recognition method is superior to the single-objective ant colony algorithm and that the decomposition-based multiobjective evolutionary algorithms with Angle-based updating and global margin ranking is better than the decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm and decomposition-based multiobjective evolutionary algorithms with angle-based updating strategy in handling multi-objective models for electromyogram signals.

Protease proprotein convertase subtilisin-like kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is a well validated target for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Several pharmaceutical companies have focused on the development of injectable monoclonal antibodies. Shifa?s approach has focused on developing orally bioavailable small molecule PCSK9/LDL-receptor (LDLR) antagonists. We have achieved a new milestone in that our lead small molecule compound exhibited comparable LDL-C lowering to the marketed monoclonal antibodies. PCSK9 is a serine protease that is that undergoes processing and secretion. Secreted PCSK9 binds to the LDLR and chaperones it to the degradation pathway. We successfully identified small molecule antagonists through a virtual screening process coupled with in vitroand cell-based assays. Our lead compound (LC) exhibited a concentration-dependent inhibition of the PCSK9/LDLR interaction with an IC50 in the Nano molar range, an increase in the level of LDLR in recombinant cell-based assays, and a significant increase in the fluorescently labeled DiI-LDL uptake in the Nano molar range. This study focuses on the development of our lead preclinical candidate for an IND filing. Our LC exhibits a good safety profile as demonstrated in vitro, including cell-based assays, and invivoin a mouse model. In vitroanalysis revealed no inhibition against seven cytochrome P-450 isoforms at >100 ?M. Our LC also showed stability in both mouse and human liver microsomes, with in vitrohalf-life values ? 2 hours. We tested the effect of multiple formulations on the pharmacokinetics and oral bioavailability of our LC. The best drug product (DP), showed significantly improved pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of our lead. The effect of DP on plasma LDL-C was extensively tested in C57/Black6 mice fed high-fat diet. Our DP is highly effective at lowering LDL-C. Oral administration of DP at 1, 3, 10 and 30 mg/Kg in mice fed high-fat diet resulted in approximately a 20, 40, 60 and 90% LDL-C lowering, respectively. The identification of a small molecule orally bioavailable antagonist against PCSK9 could lead to a new class of therapies to treat hypercholesterolemia, especially for those patients that are statin resistant or stain intolerant.

The topographies of particles can significantly affect their chemical and physical properties. On page 1692, Jintao Zhu and co‐workers present a facile, yet versatile approach to generate convoluted polymer microparticles through interfacial instabilities of emulsion droplets. Due to the adsorption of surfactant and co‐surfactant to the interface, the organic/water interfacial area can spontaneously increase by folding or deforming of the interface, ultimately yielding highly variegated particles.