Nitrogen and silicon co-doped carbon nanodots (N/Si-CDs) were synthesized by one-step hydrothermal carbonization of folic acid and 3-aminopropyl trimethoxy silane with the assistance of glycerol. The resultant N/Si-CDs present intense excitation-independent photoluminescence (PL) emission owing to their monodisperse sizes and specific surface states. In comparison to nitrogen single doped CDs (N-CDs), the co-doped N/Si-CDs possess better PL properties following different emission manner due to the synergistic effects of the nitrogen and silicon dopants. Besides, the functionalized surfaces of N/Si-CDs endow them with superior solubility and stability. The as-synthesized N/Si-CDs demonstrate selective and sensitive fluorescence response to Fe3+, which could be explained by the PL quenching effects of Fe3+ on N/Si-CDs. Based on this finding, the quantitative analysis of aqueous Fe3+ by N/Si-CDs was established, showing good linearity in a range of 10 nM~45 μM and good sensitivity with a detection limit of 3.8 nM, so did for the detection of Fe3+ in fetal bovine serum (FBS) spiked samples. Therefore, the N/Si-CDs as a novel fluorescence probe hold promising for monitoring environmental and clinical Fe3+.

A MoS2/rGO nanocomposite with a unique sandwich structure is synthesized by using silicon quantum dots (SiQDs), exhibiting excellent electrochemical performance for supercapacitors.

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The control management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infections is one of the most challenges in the 21st century. By May 8th, 2022, SARS‐CoV‐2 has infected over 510 million people with 6.2 million death worldwide and over 1.2 million people with 9133 deaths in the fifth wave of infection in Hong Kong. The government responded rapidly in the early days of the 2020 outbreak, and the results were encouraging to control COVID‐19 outbreak unavailable of vaccine. The quick responses to the epidemic alerts, for example, public education and control policies, kept residents safe from infection in the city with such a high population density and large‐scale travelers. Nevertheless, the extremely high infectivity, Omicron variant infections, and the shortcomings of transmission control measures led to uncontrollable outbreak in 2022. The weak immunity groups, elderly and children, experienced a high hospitalization rate and mortality rate because of low vaccination rate. Currently, the infection is under well controlled. This study timely summarizes the challenges, policy, and lessons of SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak control from 2020 to 2022. More importantly, the lesson and policy revealed from this study may be beneficial and applied to other cities with the outbreak of highly infectious SARS‐CoV‐2.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection causes neurological disorders and draws great attention. ZIKV infection can elicit a wide range of immune response. Type I interferons (IFNs) as well as its signaling cascade play crucial role in innate immunity against ZIKV infection and in turn ZIKV can antagonize them. ZIKV genome are mainly recognized by Toll-like receptors 3 (TLR3), TLR7/8 and RIG-I-like receptor 1 (RIG-1), which induces the expression of Type I IFNs and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). ISGs exert antiviral activity at different stages of the ZIKV life cycle. On the other hand, ZIKV takes multiple strategies to antagonize the Type Ⅰ IFN induction and its signaling pathway to establish a pathogenic infection, especially by using the viral nonstructural (NS) proteins. Most of the NS proteins can directly interact with the factors in the pathways to escape the innate immunity. In addition, structural proteins also participate in the innate immune evasion and activation of antibody-binding of blood dendritic cell antigen 2 (BDCA2) or inflammasome also be used to enhance ZIKV replication. In this review, we summarize the recent findings about the interaction between ZIKV infection and type I IFNs pathways and suggest potential strategies for antiviral drug development.