3 research outputs found
Three-Dimensional Hierarchically Porous All-Carbon Foams for Supercapacitor
Three-dimensional hierarchically
porous carbon-CNT-graphene ternary
all-carbon foams (3D-HPCFs) with 3D macro- and mesoporous structures,
a high specific surface area (1286 m<sup>2</sup> g<sup>–1</sup>), large bimodal mesopores (5.1 and 2.7 nm), and excellent conductivity
have been fabricated through multicomponent surface self-assembly
of graphene oxide (GO)-dispersed pristine CNTs (GOCs) supported on
a commercial sponge. The commercial sponge with a 3D interconnected
macroporous framework not only is used as a support for GOCs and subsequently
multicomponent self-assembly but also serves as a 3D scaffold to buffer
electrolytes to reduce ion transport resistance and ion diffusion
distance, while the GO acts as “surfactant” to directly
disperse pristine CNTs, preserving the excellent electronic structure
of pristine CNTs, and the CNTs also prevent the aggregation of graphene
as well as improve the whole conductivity. Benefiting from the aforementioned
characteristics, the 3D-HPCFs-based supercapacitors show outstanding
specific capacitance, high rate capability, and excellent cycling
stability, making them potentially promising for high-performance
energy storage devices
Efficient Removal of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Dyes, and Heavy Metal Ions by a Homopolymer Vesicle
It is an important
challenge to effectively remove environmental pollutants such as polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dyes, and heavy metal ions at a low
cost. Herein, we present a multifunctional homopolymer vesicle self-assembled
from a scalable homopolymer, polyÂ(amic acid) (PAA), at room temperature.
The vesicle can efficiently eliminate PAHs, cationic dyes, and heavy
metal ions from water based on π–π stacking, hydrophobic
effect, and electrostatic interactions with the pollutants. The residual
concentrations of PAHs, cationic dyes, and heavy metal ions (such
as Ni<sup>2+</sup>) in water are lower than 0.60 and 0.30 parts per
billion (ppb) and 0.095 parts per million (ppm), respectively, representing
a promising adsorbent for water remediation. Furthermore, precious
metal ions such as Ag<sup>+</sup> can be recovered into silver nanoparticles
by <i>in situ</i> reduction on the membrane of PAA vesicles
to form a silver nanoparticle/vesicle composite (Ag@vesicle) that
can effectively catalyze the reduction of toxic pollutants such as
aromatic nitro-compounds and be recycled for more than ten times
Intracellular Proteolytic Disassembly of Self-Quenched Near-Infrared Nanoparticles Turning Fluorescence on for Tumor-Targeted Imaging
The
design of tumor-targeting, intracellular protease-activatable
near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) nanoprobes is broadly interesting
but remains challenging. In this work, we report the rational design
of a NIR probe CysÂ(StBu)-LysÂ(Biotin)-Lys-LysÂ(Cy5.5)-CBT (<b>1</b>) to facilely prepare the self-quenched nanoparticles <b>1-NPs</b> for tumor-targeted imaging <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. The biotinylated <b>1-NPs</b> could be actively
uptaken by biotin receptor-overexpressing tumor cells via receptor-mediated
endocytosis. Upon intracellular proteolytic cleavage, <b>1-NPs</b> were disassembled to yield the small molecular probe LysÂ(Cy5.5)-Luciferin-LysÂ(Biotin)-Lys-OH
(<b>1-D-cleaved</b>), accompanied by fluorescence “Turn-On”.
With this NIRF “Turn-On” property, <b>1-NPs</b> were successfully applied for tumor-targeted imaging. We envision
that our nanoparticles could be applied for fluorescence-guided tumor
surgery in the near future