Interfacial solar-driven evaporation provides one of the most promising green and sustainable technologies to deal with the knotty water crisis by extracting vapor from a variety of water sources powered by solar energy. Advanced photothermal materials play critical roles in interfacial solar-driven evaporation by photothermal conversion and heat localization. Herein, inspired by the unique hierarchical structure and lightharvesting function of diatoms, we propose a novel photothermal material with a diatom-like hierarchical nanostructure derived from TiO 2 -PANidecorated bilayer melamine foam (TiO 2 -PANi@MF) for solar-driven clean water generation. The diatom-like hierarchical nanostructured TiO 2 -PANi@MF can realize full-spectrum light absorption and photothermal conversion by enhancing multiple light reflection and light scattering. Thanks to the diatom-like hierarchical nanostructure, TiO 2 -PANi@MF not only impressively achieves an evaporation rate of 2.12 kg m −2 h −1 under 1 sun irradiation but also shows a high solar steam conversion efficiency up to 88.9%. Notably, the TiO 2 -PANi composite also endows TiO 2 -PANi@MF with photocatalytic degradation capability. Apart from the excellent steam generation capability, optimized TiO 2 -PANi@MF also provides the high photocatalytic efficiency of dye degradation and maintains a high evaporation rate of more than 2 kg m −2 h −1 . We believe that the proposed photothermal material with a diatom-like hierarchical nanostructure can envision promising practical applications in seawater desalination and sewage purification.

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Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) actin filament-associated protein 1-antisense RNA 1 (AFAP1-AS1), shows crucial regulatory function in tumor progression. Nonetheless, the biological function and underlying mechanism of AFAP1-AS1 in the progression of thyroid cancer is still unclear. Expressions of AFAP1-AS1, miR-204-3p, and DUSP4 were quantified utilizing qRT-PCR and/or Western blot. In loss-of-function and gain-of-function assays, cell proliferation, migration and invasion were appraised by CCK-8 assay, wound healing assay, Transwell migration and invasion assays, respectively. Luciferase reporter assay was employed for validating the interaction between miR-204-3p and AFAP1-AS1 or the 3’UTR of dual specificity phosphatase 4 (DUSP4). AFAP1-AS1 was highly expressed in thyroid cancer tissues and cell lines. Highly expressed AFAP1-AS1 was in association with advanced TNM stage and positive lymph node metastasis. Knockdown of AFAP1-AS1 suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells, and overexpression of AFAP1-AS1 induced a reversed effect. MiR-204-3p was targetedly repressed by AFAP1-AS1, and miR-204-3p could negatively regulate DUSP4 expression. AFAP1-AS1 augmented the expression of DUSP4 via repressing miR-204-3p, and the effects of AFAP1-AS1 overexpression on thyroid cancer cells were also partly abolished by miR-204-3p restoration. In summary, AFAP1-AS1 facilitates thyroid cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by regulating miR-204-3p/DUSP4 axis.