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 m² g^–1), 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, poly­(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 Ni²⁺) 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⁺ 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 Cys­(StBu)-Lys­(Biotin)-Lys-Lys­(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 Lys­(Cy5.5)-Luciferin-Lys­(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