Rapid real-time PCR (generally <1 h) has broad prospects. In this study, we synthesized a new type of nanomaterial core-shell tecto-dendrimer coated with Au nanoparticles (Au CSTDs) for research in this field. The experimental results showed that Au CSTDs could significantly shorten the time of real-time PCR (from 72 to 28 min) with different templates, while the detection limit reached 10 copies and the nonspecific amplification was significantly reduced. Furthermore, experimental analyses and theoretical studies using the finite element simulation method confirmed that Au CSTDs function by synergistically enhancing electrostatic adsorption and thermal conductivity. These properties play a key role in improving real-time PCR, especially in particle-particle interactions. This study contributes an advanced method to rapid real-time PCR, which is expected to remarkably improve the efficiency, lower the detection limit, and enhance the specificity of molecular detection.

Solvent additives with a high boiling point (BP) and low vapor pressure (VP) have formed a key handle for improving the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, it is not always clear whether they remain in the active-layer film after deposition, which can negatively affect the reproducibility and stability of OSCs. In this study, an easily removable solvent additive (4-chloro-2-fluoroiodobenzene (CFIB)) with a low BP and high VP is introduced, behaving like volatile solid additives that can be completely removed during the device fabrication process. In-depth studies of CFIB addition into the D18-Cl donor and N3 acceptor validate its dominant non-covalent intermolecular interactions with N3 through effective electrostatic interactions. Such phenomena improve charge dynamics and kinetics by optimizing the morphology, leading to enhanced performance of D18-Cl:N3-based devices with a power conversion efficiency of 18.54%. The CFIB-treated device exhibits exceptional thermal stability (T80 lifetime = 120 h) at 85 °C compared with the CFIB-free device, because of its morphological robustness by evolving no residual CFIB in the film. The CFIB features a combination of advantages of solvent (easy application) and solid (high volatility) additives, demonstrating its great potential use in the commercial mass production of OSCs.

Crystalline matters with periodically arranged atoms found wide applications in modern science and technology. To facilitate the design of new materials and the advancement of existing ones, accurate and efficient models without relying too much on known inputs for predicting the functionalities are essential. Here, we propose an analytical approach for such a purpose, with only the knowledge of the structural chemistry of crystals. Based on the electrostatic interaction between periodically arranged atoms, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd derivatives of interatomic potential, respectively, enable a prediction of ten kinds in total of mechanical, acoustical and thermal properties. Over a thousand measurements are collected from ∼500 literatures, this results in the symmetric mean percentage error (SMPE) within ±25% and the symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) ranging from 22%∼74% across all properties predicted, which further enables a revelation of bond characteristics as the most important but implicit origin for functionalities.

In this work, the copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) were confined on 3D layered double hydroxide (3D-LDH) to form Cu NCs@3D-LDH with outstanding electrochemiluminescence (ECL) for constructing ultrasensitive biosensor to detect of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) implicated in Alzheimer\'s Disease (AD). More importantly, compared to the individual Cu NCs, Cu NCs@3D-LDH presented strong and stable ECL response, since 3D-LDH could not only gather more Cu NCs but also limit the intramolecular free motion to reduce nonradiative transition for obtaining high ECL intensity. In addition, the improved cascade amplification method combining proximity ligation assay (PLA) with DNAzyme could transform tiny amount of target protein into a large amount of output DNA to improve sensitivity of biosensor. The ECL biosensor realized ultrasensitive detection of GFAP with the detection limit of 2 ag/mL and it had been successfully applied to the evaluation of GFAP in the serum of patients with neurological diseases. This research offered a general and facile method to improve ECL performance of Cu NCs for sensitive detection of biomarkers for disease diagnosis.

Gold nanorods (GNR) produce heat upon irradiation with near-infrared light, enabling a tumor-targeted photothermal therapy. In this study, we prepared GNR coated with sulfated hyaluronic acid (sHA) with a binding affinity for CD44 via electrostatic interactions to deliver GNR to tumors efficiently and stably, and evaluated their usefulness for photothermal therapy. Cationic GNR modified with trimethylammonium groups electrostatically interacted with native HA or sHA with varying degrees of sulfation to form complexes. While GNR/HA was unstable in saline, GNR/sHA maintained the absorbance peak in the near-infrared region, particularly for GNR/sHA with higher degrees of sulfation. GNR/sHA exhibited an intense photothermal effect upon irradiation with near-infrared light. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo studies revealed that GNR coated with sHA containing approximately 1.2 sulfated groups per HA unit could accumulate in CD44-positive tumors via an HA-specific pathway. These findings indicate the effectiveness of GNR/sHA as a tumor-targeted photothermal therapeutic agent.

Thermoresponsive polymer brushes have attracted considerable research attention owing to their unique properties. Herein, we developed silica beads grafted with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm)-co-3-acrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC)-co-tert-butyl acrylamide (tBAAm) and P(NIPAAm-co-APTAC-co-n-butyl methacrylate(nBMA)) brushes. The carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen elemental analysis of the copolymer-grated silica beads revealed the presence of a large amount of the grafted copolymer on the silica beads. The electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between biomolecules and prepared copolymer brushes were analyzed by observing their elution behaviors via high-performance liquid chromatography using the copolymer-brush-modified beads as the stationary phase. Adenosine nucleotides were retained in the bead-packed columns, which was attributed to the electrostatic interaction between the copolymers and adenosine nucleotides. Insulin was adsorbed on the copolymer brushes at high temperatures, which was attributed to its electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions with the copolymer. Similar adsorption behavior was observed in case of albumin. Further, at a low concentration of the phosphate buffer solution, albumin was adsorbed onto the copolymer brushes even at relatively low temperatures owing to its enhanced electrostatic interaction with the copolymer. These results indicated that the developed thermoresponsive strong cationic copolymer brushes can interact with peptides and proteins through a combination of electrostatic and temperature-modulated hydrophobic interactions. Thus, the developed copolymer brushes exhibits substantial potential for application in chromatographic matrices for the analysis and purification of peptides and proteins.

Nanoparticle surfactants assembled at water-oil interfaces can significantly lower the interfacial tension and can be used to stabilize liquids. Understanding and actively tuning the mechanical properties of the generated membranes, which comprise the nanoparticle surfactants, are of significant fundamental interest for the interfacial behavior of nanoparticles and of interest for water purification, drug encapsulation, enhanced oil recovery, and innovative energy transduction applications. Here, we present electrostatic interaction-driven fabrication of freestanding and close-packed SiO2 surfactant membranes with diameters up to 0.10 mm. The membranes of 20-30 nm in thickness were spanned over holes with a diameter of 2 μm, exhibiting a Young\'s modulus ranging from 1.5 to 5.9 GPa. The controllable elastic properties of the fabricated nanoparticle surfactant membranes are found to be dictated by the strength of interactions between nanoparticles and ligands, between ligands and ligands, and between the nanoparticle surfactants. The results present an efficient approach for fabricating and developing nanoparticle surfactant-based large-area, freestanding, and ultrathin membranes with finely tunable mechanical properties on a large scale.

Research on the recovery of rare earth elements from wastewater has attracted increasing attention. Compared with other methods, biosorption is a simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly method for rare earth wastewater treatment, which has greater prospects for development. The objective of this study was to investigate the biosorption behavior and mechanism of Yarrowia lipolytica for five rare earth ions (La3⁺, Nd3⁺, Er3⁺, Y3⁺, and Sm3⁺) with a particular focus on biosorption behavior, biosorption kinetics, and biosorption isotherm. It was demonstrated that the biosorption capacity of Y. lipolytica at optimal conditions was 76.80 mg/g. It was discovered that the biosorption process complied with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir biosorption isotherm, indicating that Y. lipolytica employed a monolayer chemical biosorption process to biosorb rare earth ions. Characterization analysis demonstrated that the primary functional groups involved in rare earth ion biosorption were amino, carboxyl, and hydroxyl groups. The cooperative biosorption of rare earth ions by Y. lipolytica was facilitated by means of surface complexation, ion exchange, and electrostatic interactions. These findings suggest that Y. lipolytica has the potential to be an effective biosorbent for the removal of rare earth elements from wastewater.

A dual zwitterionic diblock copolymer (M100C100) consisting of poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC, M) and poly(3-((2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl) dimethylammonio) propionate) (PCBMA, C) is synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. A double hydrophilic diblock copolymer (M100S100) consist of PMPC and anionic poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt) (PMPS, S) is synthesized via RAFT. The degrees of polymerization of each block are 100. The charges of PMPC are neutralized intramolecularly. At neutral pH, the charges in PCBMA are also neutralized intramolecularly due to its carboxybetaine structure. Under acidic conditions, PCBMA exhibits polycation behavior as the pendant carboxy groups become protonated, forming cationic tertiary amine groups. PMPS shows permanent anionic nature independent of pH. Charge neutralized mixture of cationic M100C100 and anionic M100S100 in acidic aqueous solution forms water-soluble polyion complex (PIC) micelle owing to electrostatic attractive interactions. The core is composed of the cationic PCBMA and anionic PMPS blocks, with the PMPC blocks serving as shells that covered the core surface, forming spherical core-shell PIC micelles. Above pH 4 the pendant carboxy groups in PCBMA undergo deprotonation, transitioning to a zwitterionic state, thereby eliminating the cationic charge in PCBMA. Therefore, above pH 4 the PIC micelles are dissociated due to the disappearance of the charge interactions.

Arrays of nanoparticle (NP) clusters with controlled architectures show broad applications in nanolasers, sensors, and photocatalysis, but the fabrication of these arrays on substrates remains a grand challenge. This review presents a highly effective polymer-based strategy for the process-directed self-assembly of binary polyelectrolyte-grafted NPs (PGNPs) bearing opposite charges into stable colloidal molecules (CMs) on substrates via electrostatic interactions. The coordination number (x) of ABx CMs can be tuned by adjusting the pH or ionic strength of the solution or by employing different combinations of PGNPs with varying charge densities. Large-area CMs with diverse structures ranging from AB to AB7 can be constructed on substrates in high yields. This approach is applicable to PGNPs with different cores of NPs. This assembly strategy offers a useful tool for the fabrication of structurally precise assemblies on substrates with broad applications.