Photothermal-Responsive Intelligent Hybrid of Hierarchical Carbon Nanocages Encapsulated by Metal-Organic Hydrogels for Sensitized Photothermal Therapy

Self-supported porous wood carbon electrode with a MoC/carbon nanocage composite for application in a high-performance supercapacitor

The rational design and synthesis of carbon nanocages with highly complex porous structures are continuously facing challenges in the development of high-performance supercapacitors (SCs). The electrochemical performance characteristics of electrodes rely on their compositions and fabrication methods. Here, we propose a universal and efficient approach for the in-situ synthesis of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) on porous carbonized wood, where the selective utilization of hexacarbonyl molybdenum protects the structural integrity of the ZIF-8 precursor, preventing collapse during thermal treatment. The subsequent pyrolysis process leads to the formation of small-sized molybdenum carbide (MoC) which are embedded in carbon nanocages (CN). The composite electrode consists of MoC/CN embedded in a porous carbonized wood (PCW), and it shows area-specific capacity of 9.7F cm-2 and 9.4 F cm-2 at 5 mA cm-2 and 30 mA cm-2, respectively. Subsequently, the symmetric supercapacitor, with two MoC/CN@PCW electrodes exhibits a areal specific capacitance of 2.7 F cm-2 at 5 mA cm-2. Moreover, this supercapacitor maintains an capacitance retention rate of 98.5 % after 12,000 discharge cycles. The supercapacitor exhibits a power density of 6.5 mW cm-2, resulting in an energy density of 0.864 mWh cm-2. Therefore, the utilization of wood-based electrodes holds promise for energy storage systems.

Functionalized Nanomaterials for Inhibiting ATP-Dependent Heat Shock Proteins in Cancer Photothermal/Photodynamic Therapy and Combination Therapy

Phototherapies induced by photoactive nanomaterials have inspired and accentuated the importance of nanomedicine in cancer therapy in recent years. During these light-activated cancer therapies, a nanoagent can produce heat and cytotoxic reactive oxygen species by absorption of light energy for photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, PTT is limited by the self-protective nature of cells, with upregulated production of heat shock proteins (HSP) under mild hyperthermia, which also influences PDT. To reduce HSP production in cancer cells and to enhance PTT/PDT, small HSP inhibitors that can competitively bind at the ATP-binding site of an HSP could be employed. Alternatively, reducing intracellular glucose concentration can also decrease ATP production from the metabolic pathways and downregulate HSP production from glucose deprivation. Other than reversing the thermal resistance of cancer cells for mild-temperature PTT, an HSP inhibitor can also be integrated into functionalized nanomaterials to alleviate tumor hypoxia and enhance the efficacy of PDT. Furthermore, the co-delivery of a small-molecule drug for direct HSP inhibition and a chemotherapeutic drug can integrate enhanced PTT/PDT with chemotherapy (CT). On the other hand, delivering a glucose-deprivation agent like glucose oxidase (GOx) can indirectly inhibit HSP and boost the efficacy of PTT/PDT while combining these therapies with cancer starvation therapy (ST). In this review, we intend to discuss different nanomaterial-based approaches that can inhibit HSP production via ATP regulation and their uses in PTT/PDT and cancer combination therapy such as CT and ST.

Metal-organic gels: recent advances in their classification, characterization, and application in the pharmaceutical field

Metal-organic gels (MOGs) are a type of functional soft substance with a three-dimensional (3D) network structure and solid-like rheological behavior, which are constructed by metal ions and bridging ligands formed under the driving force of coordination interactions or other non-covalent interactions. As the homologous substances of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and gels, they exhibit the potential advantages of high porosity, flexible structure, and adjustable mechanical properties, causing them to attract extensive research interest in the pharmaceutical field. For instance, MOGs are often used as excellent vehicles for intelligent drug delivery and programmable drug release to improve the clinical curative effect with reduced side effects. Also, MOGs are often applied as advanced biomedical materials for the repair and treatment of pathological tissue and sensitive detection of drugs or other molecules. However, despite the vigorous research on MOGs in recent years, there is no systematic summary of their applications in the pharmaceutical field to date. The present review systematically summarize the recent research progress on MOGs in the pharmaceutical field, including drug delivery systems, drug detection, pharmaceutical materials, and disease therapies. In addition, the formation principles and classification of MOGs are complemented and refined, and the techniques for the characterization of the structures/properties of MOGs are overviewed in this review.