State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure

In the past few decades, there has been a wide research interest in titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanomaterials due to their applications in photocatalytic hydrogen generation and environmental pollution removal. Improving the optical absorption properties of TiO2 nanomaterials has been successfully demonstrated to enhance their photocatalytic activities, especially in the report of black TiO2 nanoparticles. The recent progress in the investigation of black TiO2 nanomaterials has been reviewed here, and special emphasis has been given on their fabrication methods along with their various chemical/physical properties and applications.

Tumour chemotherapy employs highly cytotoxic chemodrugs, which kill both cancer and normal cells by cellular apoptosis or necrosis non-selectively. Catalysing/triggering the specific chemical reactions only inside tumour tissues can generate abundant and special chemicals and products locally to initiate a series of unique biological and pathologic effects, which may enable tumour-specific theranostic effects to combat cancer without bringing about significant side effects on normal tissues. Nevertheless, chemical reaction-initiated selective tumour therapy strongly depends on the advances in chemistry, materials science, nanotechnology and biomedicine. This emerging cross-disciplinary research area is substantially different from conventional cancer-theranostic modalities in clinics. In response to the fast developments in cancer theranostics based on intratumoural catalytic chemical reactions, this tutorial review summarizes the very-recent research progress in the design and synthesis of representative nanoplatforms with intriguing nanostructures, compositions, physiochemical properties and biological behaviours for versatile catalytic chemical reaction-enabled cancer treatments, mainly by either endogenous tumour microenvironment (TME) triggering or exogenous physical irradiation. These unique intratumoural chemical reactions can be used in tumour-starving therapy, chemodynamic therapy, gas therapy, alleviation of tumour hypoxia, TME-responsive diagnostic imaging and stimuli-responsive drug release, and even externally triggered versatile therapeutics. In particular, the challenges and future developments of such a novel type of cancer-theranostic modality are discussed in detail to understand the future developments and prospects in this research area as far as possible. It is highly expected that this kind of unique tumour-specific therapeutics by triggering specific in situ catalytic chemical reactions inside tumours would provide a novel but efficient methodology for benefiting personalized biomedicine in combating cancer.

P-doped g-C₃N₄ has been successfully synthesized using hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene, a low cost and environmentally benign compound, as phosphorus source, and guanidiniumhydrochloride as g-C₃N₄ precursor, <italic>via</italic> a thermally induced copolymerization route.

High efficiency Bi₂Te₃-based thermoelectric materials and devices with energy conversion efficiencies of up to 6.0% under a temperature gradient of 217 K.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a highly valuable non-invasive imaging tool owing to its exquisite soft tissue contrast, high spatial resolution, lack of ionizing radiation, and wide clinical applicability. Contrast agents (CAs) can be used to further enhance the sensitivity of MRI to obtain information-rich images. Recently, extensive research efforts have been focused on the design and synthesis of high-performance inorganic nanoparticle-based CAs to improve the quality and specificity of MRI. Herein, the basic rules, including the choice of metal ions, effect of electron motion on water relaxation, and involved mechanisms, of CAs for MRI have been elucidated in detail. In particular, various design principles, including size control, surface modification (e.g. organic ligand, silica shell, and inorganic nanolayers), and shape regulation, to impact relaxation of water molecules have been discussed in detail. Comprehensive understanding of how these factors work can guide the engineering of future inorganic nanoparticles with high relaxivity. Finally, we have summarized the currently available strategies and their mechanism for obtaining high-performance CAs and discussed the challenges and future developments of nanoparticulate CAs for clinical translation in MRI.

Abstract Nanozyme is a series of nanomaterials with enzyme-mimetic activities that can proceed with the catalytic reactions of natural enzymes. In the field of biomedicine, nanozymes are capturing tremendous attention due to their high stability and low cost. Enzyme-mimetic activities of nanozymes can be regulated by multiple factors, such as the chemical state of metal ion, pH, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), and glutathione (GSH) level, presenting great promise for biomedical applications. Over the past decade, multi-functional nanozymes have been developed for various biomedical applications. To promote the understandings of nanozymes and the development of novel and multifunctional nanozymes, we herein provide a comprehensive review of the nanozymes and their applications in the biomedical field. Nanozymes with versatile enzyme-like properties are briefly overviewed, and their mechanism and application are discussed to provide understandings for future research. Finally, underlying challenges and prospects of nanozymes in the biomedical frontier are discussed in this review. Graphical Abstract

PPC/LLZTO composite solid electrolyte was developed for a flexible solid lithium battery.

Black titania nanotube arrays are prepared for the first time, which exhibit an excellent photoelectrochemical water-splitting performance.

By utilizing the interaction between Cu and CNTs, a record-high <italic>zT</italic> of 2.4 has been achieved in Cu₂Se/CNT hybrid materials.

This study reveals the essential role played by surface oxygen vacancies in catalytic oxidation reactions, and complements the common viewpoint that Co³⁺ is the major activity species in Co₃O₄-based systems.

Full-parameter optimization and energy-loss minimized integration enable a record-high efficiency of 12% in a segmented power-generating module.

Graphite-C₃N₄/Bi₂WO₆composites with enhanced response to visible light and remarkably enhanced selective CO₂photoreduction to CO were synthesized and demonstrated to be promising photocatalysts for CO₂photoconversion.

In this review we discuss considerations regarding the common techniques used for measuring thermoelectric transport properties necessary for calculating the thermoelectric figure of merit, <italic>zT</italic>.

A mixed conductive garnet/Li interface consisting of electronic conductive nanoparticles embedded in an ionic conductive network is constructed for dendrite-free solid garnet batteries.

Tailored dopant strategies are proposed to optimise the energy density of BiFeO₃–SrTiO₃, which can be adapted for other high polarisability oxide-based systems.

Wrapping grain boundaries with rGO enhances zT by increasing thermal boundary resistance, <italic>R</italic>_κ, with minimal effect on the electronic transport.

Flexible thermoelectrics is a synergy of flexible electronics and thermoelectric energy conversion. In this work, we fabricated flexible full-inorganic thermoelectric power generation modules based on doped silver chalcogenides.

Tumor therapeutic efficacy is determined, to a great extent, by the delivery efficiency of therapeutic drugs to their final targets. The cell nucleus has been proven to be the main interaction site for most therapeutic agents such as anticancer drugs, genes, free radicals, and heat. Therefore, it is highly expected that cell nucleus-targeting or nuclear membrane-penetrating nanotherapeutics would provide a more effective strategy than ordinary cell membrane-targeting ones for benefiting precise nanomedicine in humans' battles against cancer. This tutorial review presents a summary of the most recent progress achieved in the design, synthesis, and application of cell nucleus-targeting nanotherapeutics. We first discuss a number of design principles involved in cell nucleus-targeting nanotherapeutics, including size control, shape regulation, and surface modification. Next, we demonstrate the diverse applications of cell nucleus-targeting nanotherapeutics ranging from chemotherapy, gene therapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy to synergistic therapy. Moreover, a number of typical nanotherapeutics designed for enhanced therapeutic efficacy by targeting other subcellular organelles (such as mitochondria, lysosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum) are also briefly discussed. Finally, perspectives and challenges in this research field are proposed, in the hope of accelerating their translation into the clinic.

A combination of <italic>in situ</italic> polymerization and a solution process was adopted to prepare PANI/graphene nanocomposites with a large thermoelectric power factor.

Al₂O₃–YAG:Ce phosphor ceramic shows excellent luminescence, thermal performance, and thus great suitability for use in solid-state laser lighting.