Two-Dimensional Borocarbonitride Nanosheet-Engineered Hydrogel as an All-In-One Platform for Melanoma Therapy and Skin Regeneration

The postoperative tumor recurrence and repairing skin defects in clinical melanoma therapy remain challenging. Recent years have seen the development of visible-to-near-infrared (NIR) light for melanoma therapy or tissue regeneration. For solving the integrated issue of melanoma treatment and skin wounds repair, a gentle and efficient strategy is essential to utilize the multifunction of light. Here, we presented a new light-mediation concept and reported a light-responsive intelligent hydrogel system by introducing two-dimensional (2D) borocarbonitride (BCN) nanosheets into the methacrylated hyaluronic acid (HA) matrix (HA@BCN). The hydrogel was skillfully fabricated under the activation of blue light and exhibited excellent biocompatibility, mechanical robustness, and biodegradability, and then, a gentle and powerful multifunction for cutaneous melanoma therapy and wound healing under NIR light irradiation was performed. Based on this result, multifunctional hydrogels could be triggered by NIR light (0.35 W/cm2) for killing tumor cells, at least an 80% mortality rate in 10 min. Subsequently, the HA@BCN hydrogel could release more boron moieties as the growth promoter under moderate NIR light irradiation, which largely accelerated the wound healing. Therefore, our discovery presented a light-mediated and 2D nanomaterial-functionalized versatile hydrogel system for cutaneous melanoma photothermal therapy

Constructing Artificial Glass Nanobarrier Layer on Copper Spheres with Robust Antioxidation Properties for Printable Electrode

Copper-containing electronic pastes with the merits of low cost and high conductivity have been actively investigated for preparing conductive electrodes for printable electronics. However, oxidation of copper electrodes in the ambient atmosphere deteriorates devices and restricts their practical applications. Here, we designed an artificial glass nanobarrier layer on copper spheres to improve the antioxidation properties by blocking further oxidation. Specifically, a non-aqueous sol–gel method was applied to synthesize zinc borosilicate glass nanolayer-coated copper spheres with various diameters from 200 nm to 10 μm with zinc borosilicate glass nanolayer (Cu@ZBS). The Cu@ZBS-based copper pastes were screen printed on the silicon wafer and low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC), demonstrating low-sheet resistance (11 mΩ/□), strong adhesion, and long-term stability. Our study blazes the trail of applicating reliable Cu@glass core–shell materials to fabricating conductive electrodes in printable electronic devices

Ultrafast Growth of Thin Hexagonal and Pyramidal Molybdenum Nitride Crystals and Films

Two-dimensional (2D) ultrathin transition-metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides are considered to be a family of important functional materials for various applications; however, it is challenging to realize their fast and efficient growth from gas phase. Herein, we demonstrate a one-step direct and rapid synthesis of ultrathin molybdenum nitride (MoN) crystals with controlled thickness and morphology on liquid copper by controlling diffusion of the Mo source through a liquid copper film method. The growth of a few individual crystals with thickness down to 1 nm and continuous large-area films takes only 3 and 5 min, respectively, which is at least 20 times faster than previously reported. More importantly, a series of morphologies of MoN, including pyramidal crystals, were obtained by adjusting the synthesis time and the amount of hydrogen in nitrogen gas from 15% to 5%. The mechanism of this morphology evolution is explained through the molecular diffusion kinetic growth process. Furthermore, the MoN films present enhanced catalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction due to the exposed catalytically active surface and fast electron transport in highly conductive hexagonal MoN (h-MoN)

Nanoconfined Synthesis of Lead Sulfide Quantum Dots Embedded in Mesoporous Aluminosilicate Glass with Adjustable Near-Infrared Broadband Luminescence

Functionalizing glass with optically active quantum dots has shown great potential in near-infrared bioimaging and optical communication. However, the size distribution of quantum dots is hard to control by traditional glass quenching method due to extremely high processing temperature (∼1300 °C), resulting in unexpected transmission loss and luminescent quenching of quantum dots embedded in a glass composite. Herein, we developed a nanoconfined synthesis of lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots in a mesoporous aluminosilicate glass matrix at a relatively low temperature of 600 °C with adjustable near-infrared broadband luminescence. The sol–gel-synthesized glass composite precursor with high surface areas over 480 m2/g and a nanopore mean diameter of about 3.2 nm can enable the homogeneous dispersal of PbS quantum dots in the mesoporous glass matrix as well as restrict the overgrowth of quantum dots to prevent aggregation. The PbS–AS glass composites exhibited dual-band near-infrared luminescence, showcasing morphological and nonlinear saturable absorption properties. The 0.8PbS–AS glass served as an effective saturable absorber for a passively mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser, achieving a pulse repetition rate of ∼0.09 kHz/mW and a pulse width of ∼0.04 μs/kHz. The PbS–SA is confirmed to be suitable for a Q-switched mode-locking laser, showing high potential for mode-locked laser generation with further SA optimization