The rational design and fabrication of promising electrodes with prominent energy storage property and conversion performance is crucial for supercapacitors and electrocatalysis. Herein, potato chiplike cobalt nickel-layered double hydroxide@polypyrrole− cotton pad (CoNi-LDH@PCPs) composite was synthesized by in situ polymerization, which was coupled with facile solution reaction and ion-exchange etching process. An interesting potato chip-like structure can effectively expedite the kinetics of the electrode reactions, while the three-dimensional PCPs texture affords efficient pathways for charge transport, and the voids between adjacent fibers are thoroughly accessible for electrolytes and bubble evolution. When evaluated as a positive electrode for wearable supercapattery, the hierarchical CoNi-LDH@PCPs electrode displayed high specific capacity and excellent flexibility. As an oxygen evolution reaction catalyst, this PCPbased electrode also reveals the lowest overpotential of 350 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and a Tafel slope of ∼58 mV dec −1 . In addition, density functional theory calculations suggest that the synthesis strategy for controllable tuning of hollow CoNi-LDH arrays reported here represents a critical step toward high-performance electrodes for energy storage and electrochemical catalysis.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) as a kind of noninvasive tumor treatment has attracted increasing research interest. However, the efficiency of existing PTT agents in the near-infrared (NIR) region is the major problem that has hindered further development of PTT. Herein, we present an effective strategy to construct the efficient photothermal agent by utilizing an intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PeT) mechanism, which is able to dramatically improve photothermal conversion efficiency in the NIR region. Specifically, an NIR dye (A1) constructed with dimethylamine moiety as the electron donor and the aza-BODIPY core as the electron acceptor is designed and synthesized, which can be used as a class of imaging-guided PTT agents via intramolecular PeT. After encapsulation with biodegradable polymer DSPE-mPEG, nanophotothermal agents with a small size exhibit excellent water solubility, photostability, and long-time retention in tumor. Importantly, such nanoparticles exhibit excellent photothermal conversion efficiency of ∼35.0%, and the PTT effect in vivo still remains very well even with a low dosage of 0.05 mg kg upon 808 nm NIR laser irradiation (0.5 W cm). Therefore, this reasonable design via intramolecular PeT offers guidance to construct excellent photothermal agents and subsequently may provide a novel opportunity for future clinical cancer treatment.

Fibrosis is characterized by the excessive extracellular matrix deposition due to dysregulated wound and connective tissue repair response. Multiple organs can develop fibrosis, including the liver, kidney, heart, and lung. Fibrosis such as liver cirrhosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and cystic fibrosis caused substantial disease burden. Persistent abnormal activation of myofibroblasts mediated by various signals, such as transforming growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, and fibroblast growh factor, has been recongized as a major event in the occurrence and progression of fibrosis. Although the mechanisms driving organ-specific fibrosis have not been fully elucidated, drugs targeting these identified aberrant signals have achieved potent anti-fibrotic efficacy in clinical trials. In this review, we briefly introduce the aetiology and epidemiology of several fibrosis diseases, including liver fibrosis, kidney fibrosis, cardiac fibrosis, and pulmonary fibrosis. Then, we summarise the abnormal cells (epithelial cells, endothelial cells, immune cells, and fibroblasts) and their interactions in fibrosis. In addition, we also focus on the aberrant signaling pathways and therapeutic targets that regulate myofibroblast activation, extracellular matrix cross-linking, metabolism, and inflammation in fibrosis. Finally, we discuss the anti-fibrotic drugs based on their targets and clinical trials. This review provides reference for further research on fibrosis mechanism, drug development, and clinical trials.

It is always a huge challenge to develop novel near-infrared (NIR) phototherapeutic agents suitable for imaging-guided cancer therapy. In order to clarify the positive heavy atom effects on the photodynamic and photothermal efficiencies of phototherapeutic agents, a series of chlorine-, bromide-, or iodine-substituted aza-BODIPYs (B2, B3, and B4, respectively) are designed and synthesized. Among them, B4 exhibits both excellent photodynamic and photothermal effects (singlet oxygen yield of B4 is 1.57 times more than that of B3) and excellent photothermal effects (1.3 °C higher than that of B3). Then, nanoparticles of B4 (IABNs) with excellent biocompatibility are prepared by coating hydrophobic B4 with hydrophilic polymer DSPE-mPEG . IABN exhibits high photostability, excellent biocompatibility, and low dark toxicity both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, IABN shows the enhanced photodynamic effect and high photothermal conversion efficiency (34.8%). In addition, the strong fluorescence emission of IABN makes it suitable for fluorescence imaging-guided tumor therapy in vivo. Finally, IABN has successfully healed the Hela tumor-bearing mice under NIR fluorescence imaging- and photothermal imaging-guided synergistic photothermal and photodynamic therapy with low side effects, demonstrating that it is promising for future clinical applications.

We have presented oxygen self-sufficient near infrared-activatable liposomes to overcome hypoxia-associated photodynamic resistance.