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The development of nanoparticles loaded with natural active ingredients is one of the hot trends in the pharmaceutical industry. Herein, chitosan was selected as the base material, and sodium tripolyphosphate was chosen as the cross-linking agent. Chitosan nanoparticles loaded with β-acids from hops were prepared by the ionic cross-linking method. The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that chitosan nanoparticles successfully encapsulated β-acids. The loading capacity of chitosan nanoparticles with β-acids was 2.00 %-18.26 %, and the encapsulation efficiency was 0.58 %-55.94 %. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), particle size, and zeta potential results displayed that the nanoparticles revealed a sphere-like distribution with a particle size range of 241-261 nm, and the potential exhibited positive potential (+14.47-+16.27 mV). The chitosan nanoparticles could slowly release β-acids from different simulated release media. Notably, the β-acids-loaded nanoparticles significantly inhibited Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli ATCC25922 (E. coli). Besides, β-acids-loaded chitosan nanoparticles were cytotoxic to colorectal cancer cells (HT-29 and HCT-116). Therefore, applying chitosan nanoparticles can further expand the application of β-acids in biomedical fields., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Studies have shown that covalent and non-covalent zein-polyphenol complexes exhibit significant differences in structure and properties, but their effects on the characteristics of Pickering emulsions are still unclear. In this study, zein nanoparticles (ZNPs), non-covalent (N-ZGANPs) and covalent (C-ZGANPs) zein-gallic acid nanoparticles were fabricated to investigate the influence of complexation types on the properties of an algal oil-in-water Pickering emulsion. Results indicated that the addition of gallic acid was associated with the decrease of interfacial tension of particles. C-ZGANPs possessed the strongest interfacial adsorption capacity, which contributed to the optimum physical stability of the covalent emulsion during storage. The rheological experiment demonstrated that C-ZGANPs decreased the viscoelasticity of the emulsion, while N-ZGANPs showed the opposite effect. Moreover, the emulsions stabilized by C-ZGANPs significantly delayed the oxidation of the encapsulated algal oil, protected astaxanthin (AST) from heat, as well as increased the bioaccessibility of AST in simulated digestion., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Optogenetic therapy has emerged as a promising technique for the treatment of ocular diseases; however, most optogenetic tools rely on external blue light to activate the photoswitch, whose relatively strong phototoxicity may induce retinal damage. Herein, we present the demonstration of camouflage nanoparticle-based vectors for in situ bioluminescence-driven optogenetic therapy of retinoblastoma. In biomimetic vectors, the photoreceptor CRY2 and its interacting partner CIB1 plasmid are camouflaged with folic acid ligands and luciferase NanoLuc-modified macrophage membranes. To conduct proof-of-concept research, this study employs a mouse model of retinoblastoma. In comparison to external blue light irradiation, the developed system enables an in situ bioluminescence-activated apoptotic pathway to inhibit tumor growth with greater therapeutic efficacy, resulting in a significant reduction in ocular tumor size. Furthermore, unlike external blue light irradiation, which causes retinal damage and corneal neovascularization, the camouflage nanoparticle-based optogenetic system maintains retinal structural integrity while avoiding corneal neovascularization.

Size-controlled Ag0.04@Co0.48@Ni0.48 core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by employing graphene (rGO) with different reduction degrees as supports. The number of CO and CO functional groups on the surface of rGO might play a major role in controlling the particle size. The strong steric-hindrance effect of CO resulted in the growth of large particles, whereas CO contributed to the formation of small particles. The particle size of Ag0.04@Co0.48@Ni0.48 NPs supported on rGO with different reduction degrees decreased as the number of CO functional groups decreased. The decrease in the particle size probably led to the increase in the catalytic activity towards the hydrolysis of ammonia borane (AB). The enhanced catalytic activity largely stemmed from the increasing active sites on the surface of catalysts owing to the decreasing particle size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-layered Ag@Co@Ni core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) containing a silver core, a cobalt inner shell, and a nickel outer shell were formed by an in situ chemical reduction method. The thickness of the double shells varied with different cobalt and nickel contents. Ag0.04@Co0.48@Ni0.48 showed the most distinct core-shell structure. Compared with its bimetallic core-shell counterparts, this catalyst showed higher catalytic activity for the hydrolysis of NH3BH3 (AB). The synergetic interaction between Co and Ni in Ag0.04@Co0.48@Ni0.48 NPs may play a critical role in the enhanced catalytic activity. Furthermore, cobalt-nickel double shells surrounding the silver core in the special triple-layered core-shell structure provided increasing amounts of active sites on the surface to facilitate the catalytic reaction. These promising catalysts may lead to applications for AB in the field of fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, nanocage MnCo 2 O 4 is synthesized by using a dual metal zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF, Mn-Co-ZIF) as both precursor and template, which shows great potential for high performance supercapacitor. The as-obtained MnCo 2 O 4 exhibits hollow polyhedral nanostructure, that inherit from the dual Mn-Co-ZIF. Moreover, the nanocage MnCo 2 O 4 is composed by numerous nanoparticles, which help to short ion diffusion pathway, provide porous structure, and collaborative electronic transmission. The MnCo 2 O 4 electrodes exhibit excellent supercapacitor performances, that possess a high specific capacitance of 1763 F g −1 (1 A g −1 ), and a reversible capacitance of 840 F g −1 (10 A g −1 ). After 4500 cycles at 1 A g −1 , the MnCo 2 O 4 electrode shows a capacitance retention of 95%, which demonstrates its superior cycle stability. The nanocage MnCo 2 O 4 exhibits good electrochemical properties, due to its unique hierarchical hollow structure can be maintained during the electrochemical cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the novel Cu@CoNi tri-metallic core-shell NPs have been synthesized by a facile and efficient in situ method at room temperature. It exhibits superior catalytic activity towards the hydrolysis dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (NH 3 BH 3 , AB). In these series nanoparticles, the Cu 0.4 @Co 0.5 Ni 0.1 core-shell NPs showed the best catalytic performance that the maximum hydrogen generation rate is 7340.80 mL min −1 g −1 at 298 K. The hydrolysis reaction towards AB was proved to the first order by the Cu 0.4 @Co 0.5 Ni 0.1 NPs via kinetic studies. The activation energy was 36.08 kJ mol −1 . Even after five recycle experiment, the catalysts also showed a good recycle stability in aqueous solution owing to the synergistic effect of Cu, Co and Ni in the tri-metallic core-shell NPs. The core-shell NPs/carbon composites also showed the better catalytic performance for hydrolysis to ammonia borane and rGO is proved to be the best support to catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles are successfully synthesized from Cobalt bis (4-pyridine carboxylate) tetrahydrate (Co-INA) precursors through the solvothermal method followed by thermal treatment in air. The morphologies of Co 3 O 4 products varies with the amount of ethanol in the solvent. What's more, the phenomenon of aggregation becomes more unobvious with increasing the amount of ethanol to 15 mL ethanol, the corresponding Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles show a better dispersion and more excellent cycling performance. This electrode provides a specific discharge capacity of 712 mA h g -1 after 100 cycles at the current density of 200 mA g -1 . Therefore, the Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles can be deemed to be potential candidates as anode materials for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]