Facile synthesis of magnetic mesoporous hollow carbon microspheres for rapid capture of low-concentration peptides

Bacterial lipase-responsive polydopamine nanoparticles for detection and synergistic therapy of wound biofilms infection

Wound biofilms represent an elusive conundrum in contemporary treatment and diagnostic options, accredited to their escalating antibiotic resistance and interference in chronic wound healing processes. Here, we developed mesoporous polydopamine (mPDA) nanoparticles, and grafted with rhodamine B (Rb) as biofilm lipase responsive detection probe, followed by π - π stacking mediated ciprofloxacin (CIP) loading to create mP-Rb@CIP nanoparticles. mPDA NPs with a melanin structure could quench fluorescence emissions of Rb. Once encountering biofilm in vivo, the ester bond in Rb and mPDA is hydrolyzed by elevated lipase concentrations, triggering the liberation of Rb and restore fluorescence emissions to achieve real-time imaging of biofilm-infected wounds. Afterwards, the 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) illumination initiates a spatiotemporal controlled antibacterial photothermal therapy (PTT), boosting its effectiveness through photothermal-triggered CIP release for synergistic biofilm eradication. The mP-Rb@CIP platform exhibits dual diagnostic and therapeutic functions, efficaciously treating biofilm-infected wounds in vivo and in vitro. Particularly, the mP-Rb@CIP/NIR procedure expedites wound-healing by alleviating oxidative stress, modulating inflammatory mediators, boosting collagen synthesis, and promoting angiogenesis. Taken together, the theranostic nanosystem strategy holds significant potential for addressing wound biofilm-associated infections.

Enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption of Fe3O4@MnO2@Ni-Co/C composites derived from Prussian blue analogues

Herein, Fe₃O₄@MnO₂@Ni-Co/C composites derived from PBAs were successfully fabricated. Firstly, Ni-Co Prussian blue analogues (Ni-Co PBAs) were used as precursors to derive a carbon layer on their surface by annealing treatment and subsequently translated into MnO₂@Ni-Co/C nanocubes after hydrothermal reactions. Fe₃O₄@MnO₂@Ni-Co/C composites were finally obtained after depositing Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles through the annealing process. Their electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption performance apparently enhanced, thanks to the excellent impedance matching and strong attenuation derived from the synergy between the dielectric loss and the magnetic loss. In particular, the minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of Fe₃O₄@MnO₂@Ni-Co/C reached -41.2 dB with a thickness of 4.0 mm and the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) reached 7.1 GHz with a thickness of 2.0 mm. Therefore, the results could be significant for synthesizing EMW absorbers with excellent performance, a broad bandwidth, strong absorption, thin thickness and light weight.

Facile synthesis of amino-functionalized magnetic materials for efficient enrichment of anionic metabolites from biological samples

The analysis of biological samples is often affected by the background matrix. Proper sample preparation is a critical step in the analytical procedure for complex samples. In this study, a simple and efficient enrichment strategy based on Amino-functionalized Polymer-Magnetic MicroParticles (NH₂-PMMPs) with coral-like porous structures was developed to enable the detection of 320 anionic metabolites, providing detailed coverage of phosphorylation metabolism. Among them, 102 polar phosphate metabolites including nucleotides, cyclic nucleotides, sugar nucleotides, phosphate sugars, and phosphates, were enriched and identified from serum, tissues, and cells. Furthermore, the detection of 34 previously unknown polar phosphate metabolites in serum samples demonstrates the advantages of this efficient enrichment method for mass spectrometric analysis. The limit of detections (LODs) were between 0.02 and 4 nmol/L for most anionic metabolites and its high sensitivity enabled the detection of 36 polar anion metabolites from 10 cell equivalent samples. This study has provided a promising tool for the efficient enrichment and analysis of anionic metabolites in biological samples with high sensitivity and broad coverage, facilitating the knowledge of the phosphorylation processes of life.

Preparation and Tribological Properties of Self-Lubricating Epoxy Resins with Oil-Containing Nanocapsules

The design and development of self-lubricating materials aid in enhancing the tribological performance and prolonging the service life of aero self-lubricating spherical plain bearings. Herein, monodisperse hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (HMCNs) with thin shell thickness and uniform particle size were synthesized. Afterward, oil-containing nanocapsules (Oil@HMCNs) were obtained by the impregnation method, which was an innovative approach to prepare nanoscale capsules. The Oil@HMCNs were monodispersed, and the oil content rate could reach 45 wt %. The nanocapsules were applied as additives to achieve the self-lubricating properties of epoxy resin (EP). It was revealed that the coefficient of friction (COF) and the wear rate of EP in dry friction can be decreased from 0.56 to 0.084 and from 50.15 × 10^-6 to 0.27 × 10^-6 mm³/N/m, respectively. The tribological properties of EP composites in dry friction are better than those of EP with external oil. According to the analysis of friction pairs, the antifriction performance was contributed by the released automatic transmission fluid 6HP (ATF6) from nanocapsules. Meanwhile, the presence of ATF6 effectively could inhibit fatigue wear, and the decrease of compressive strength and surface hardness led to plastic deformation and mechanical polishing. Both resulted in a lower wear rate of EP. In conclusion, this work explored the application possibility of hollow mesoporous materials in lubrication. The prepared EP composites exhibited excellent tribological performances and self-lubricating properties, which were expected to be applied to self-lubricating spherical plain bearings and other mechanical parts.

Dendrimer-Modified Silica Nanoparticles for Efficient Enrichment of Low-Concentration Peptides

Peptide profiling based on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is of particular interest as it can provide physiologically and pathologically related information of the bio-samples. Due to the complexity of real biological samples, MALDI-TOF MS-based peptide mapping methods rely strongly on particular enrichment methods to improve the signal intensity. This paper introduces third-generation dendrimer-modified SBA-15 with the surface functionalization of amino and carboxyl group, respectively (denoted as SBA-15/G3-NH₂ and SBA-15/G3-COOH), for the efficient capture of low-abundance peptides. The enrichment ability of the nanocomposites was evaluated by standard peptides digests and real biological samples. The synthesized nanocomposites incorporated the benefit of dendrimers and mesoporous silica nanomaterial SBA-15, showing enhanced peptide enrichment ability. Therefore, this work may provide a new class of nanomaterials for peptide mapping from biological samples.

Engineering of nanomaterials for mass spectrometry analysis of biomolecules

Mass spectrometry (MS) based analysis has received intense attention in diverse biological fields. However, direct MS interrogation of target biomolecules in complex biological samples is still challenging, due to the extremely low abundance and poor ionization potency of target biological species. Innovations in nanomaterials create new auxiliary tools for deep and comprehensive MS characterization of biomolecules. More recently, growing research interest has been directed to the compositional and structural engineering of nanomaterials for enriching target biomolecules prior to MS analysis, enhancing the ionization efficiency in MS detection and designing biosensing nanoprobes in sensitive MS readout. In this review, we mainly focus on the recent advances in the engineering of nanomaterials towards their applications in sample pre-treatment, desorption/ionization matrices and ion signal amplification for MS profiling of biomolecules. This review will provide a toolbox of nanomaterials for researchers devoted to developing analytical methods and practical applications in the biological MS field.

Highly sensitive electrochemical determination of methotrexate based on a N-doped hollow nanocarbon sphere modified electrode

As an antineoplastic drug, methotrexate (MTX) is widely applied in cancer therapies; however it has potentially toxic activity, and thus the qualitative and quantitative determination of MTX is of great significance. In this paper, by using dopamine synchronously as a carbon and N source, N-doped hollow nanocarbon sphere (NHNC) hybrids were prepared via a simple self-polymerization method and used to construct a new electrochemical sensor for MTX. The prepared NHNC exhibits a uniform hollow nanostructure with high conductivity and electrocatalytic properties as well as large adsorption capacity and surface area, which are the key factors for improving the sensor sensitivity of MTX. For achieving highly sensitive determination of MTX, various conditions were optimized, and the final results show that the NHNC modified electrode has excellent sensing responses for MTX, and it has a wide linear range from 0.05 to 14.0 μM coupled with a low detection limit of 0.01 μM. Finally, studies on the reproducibility, stability and selectivity of the NHNC modified electrode show that the corresponding results are satisfactory.

C18-functionalized magnetic nanocomposites fabricated by one-step aqueous coating of tailored oligopeptides for enrichment of low-abundance peptides

Screening and monitoring endogenous peptides from complicated biosamples is still a major challenge in mass spectrometry-based proteomics research, mainly due to their low concentration and the interference of high-abundance proteins and other contaminants in biological samples. Herein, a facile and novel approach was described for rapid fabrication of C₁₈-functionalized magnetic nanocomposites (C₁₈-MNCs) based on one-step aqueous coating of C₁₈-Val-Lys-Val-Lys-Val-Lys (C₁₈-VK-VI) for the highly selective enrichment of low-abundance endogenous peptides from biological samples. C₁₈-VK-VI can readily self-assemble into complete monolayers mainly composed of β-sheets with C₁₈ hydrophobic chains erecting on the surface of GO@Fe₃O₄ MNCs under the physiological conditions. The resulting C₁₈VK-VI-GO@Fe₃O₄ MNCs exhibited good performance for peptides enrichment from digests of standard protein (myoglobin, MYO) and human serum, such as high sensitivity (0.05 fmol μL^-1) and selectivity (mass ratio of MYO digests and MYO = 1:500), rapid separation, and good reproducibility. Such a simple mild and rapid one-step aqueous coating method on the basis of oligopeptides self-assembly showed great potential in surface functionalization of various nanoadsorbents for proteome/peptidome researches.

Magnetic mesoporous carbon material based electrochemical sensor for rapid detection of penicillin sodium in milk

In recent years, to increase growth rate and prevent infectious diseases, an excessive use of antibiotics in livestock breeding processes has resulted in the presence of antibiotic residues in animal foods. In this experiment, a new kind of electrochemical sensor is prepared based on magnetic mesoporous hollow carbon microspheres (MHM) as a penicillinase (Pen X) adsorption carrier to rapidly detect penicillin sodium (Pen G), named Pen X/MHM/MGCE. The MHM-adsorbed penicillinase can be separated from the solution by magnetic attraction and fixed on a magnetic glassy carbon electrode by physical adsorption, which is easy to operate and avoids the interference of a crosslinking agent at the active site of the enzyme. A differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) method is used to immerse the working electrode in test samples containing different concentrations of penicillin sodium solution with 0.5 mg/mL oxidized hematoxylin. According to the quantitative relationship between the current value and the concentration of penicillin sodium, the concentration of penicillin sodium in the tested samples can be determined. The detection range of the sensor is 10^-8 to 10^-2 mg/mL, the linear relationship is good (R² = 0.9983), and the detection limit (LOD) is 2.655 × 10^-7 mg/mL (S/N = 3). The detection of penicillin sodium in milk using a standard addition method shows good recovery. Furthermore, the proposed method has the advantages of a wide detection range, good enzyme immobilization capacity, good precision and stability, convenient cleaning, and recycling of solid materials. Thus, it can successfully achieve rapid detection in milk samples. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The sensor provides a low detection limit and high recovery rate of electrode material; therefore, the sensor can realize the rapid and quantitative detection of penicillin sodium in milk.

Core-shell structured magnetic mesoporous carbon nanospheres derived from metal-polyphenol coordination polymer-coated Fe3 O4 and its application in the enrichment of phthalates from water samples

In this work, core-shell structured magnetic mesoporous carbon nanospheres were fabricated from the carbonization of metal-polyphenol coordination polymer-coated Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles. The preparation method is simple, fast, versatile, and easy to scale up. Magnetic mesoporous carbon nanospheres exhibit a high specific surface area, high superparamagnetism, and high adsorption efficiencies for phthalates. Four phthalates were extracted from aqueous solutions by using magnetic mesoporous carbon nanospheres via magnetic solid phase extraction. Subsequent analysis was performed by using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The analytical method has good linearity in the concentration range of 1-200 ng/mL for diethyl phthalate, diisobutyl phthalate, and dicyclohexyl phthalate, and 3-200 ng/mL for dipropyl phthalate. The limits of detection were in the range of 0.10-0.62 ng/mL. Compared with previous methods, this method has a lower detection limit, wider linearity range, and faster adsorption and desorption rates. The results indicate that magnetic mesoporous carbon nanospheres are suitable for the enrichment of hydrophobic substances from aqueous solutions.

Electrocatalytic Imprinted Polymer of N-Doped Hollow Carbon Nanosphere-Palladium Nanocomposite for Ultratrace Detection of Anticancer Drug 6-Mercaptopurine

In this work, a nanohybrid-based imprinted polymer consisting of N-doped hollow carbon nanospheres and palladium is reported for the electroanalysis of ultratrace level of anticancer drug, 6-mercaptopurine, used in the treatment of leukemia. For this, N-doped carbon nanospheres decorated with palladium were first developed, and subsequently, a molecular imprinted polymer layer was grown onto their surfaces. The so-produced silica-embedded nanocomposite was made hollow by etching silica moieties with hydrofluoric acid. Finally, the whole system was doped on an ionic-liquid-modified pencil graphite electrode. The underlying synergistic effect of hollow carbon nanosphere-supported palladium nanoparticles inculcated electrocatalytic action. Notably, all rebinding sites in solid core-shells were confined within the shell, which hampers the effective diffusion of template. However, in this work, an effective diffusion of template across the hollow structure of inner and outer surfaces was observed. Consequently, this rendered approximately 2-fold heterogeneous rate constant as compared to the solid core-shell-based sensor. Differential pulse voltammetric transduction was used for ultratrace detection of 6-mercaptopurine through anodic stripping method. The hollow imprinted sensor revealed a linear dependence of current with concentration range 0.80-70.748 ng mL^-1. The limits of detection 0.11-0.22 ng mL^-1 were realized in water, human blood plasma, urine, and pharmaceuticals. Thus, the proposed sensor demonstrated an attractive sensitivity reproducibility, as well as endurance requisite for the treatment of leukemia patients.

Functionalized hollow MnFe2O4 nanospheres: design, applications and mechanism for efficient adsorption of heavy metal ions

A l-cysteine functionalized magnetic hollow MnFe₂O₄ nanosphere material has been synthesised, with high magnetism, large interior cavities, and high porosity and surface activity. It has high adsorption efficiency and regenerated adsorption capacity for the removal of Cr⁶⁺ and Pb²⁺ in contaminated water.

Metal (Au, Pt) Nanoparticle-Latex Nanocomposites as Probes for Immunochromatographic Test Strips with Enhanced Sensitivity

The development of a sensitive and rapid diagnostic test for early detection of infectious viruses is urgently required to defend against pandemic and infectious diseases including seasonal influenza. In this study, we developed noble metal (Au, Pt) nanoparticle-latex nanocomposite particles for use as probes for immunochromatographic test (ICT) strips. The nanocomposite particles were conjugated with monoclonal antibody (mAb) to detect an influenza A (H1N1) antigen. For comparison, Au nanoparticles conjugated with mAb were also prepared. The lowest detectable concentrations of the influenza A antigen were found to be 6.25 × 10^-3 and 2.5 × 10^-2 HAU/mL for Au nanoparticle-latex and Pt nanoparticle-latex nanocomposite particles, respectively, whereas it was 4.0 × 10^-1 HAU/mL for Au nanoparticles. These results clearly demonstrated that the nanocomposite probes were more sensitive than conventional nanoparticle-based probes for ICT. To expand the versatility of the nanocomposite probes, the surfaces of the probes were functionalized with biotinylated proteins to enable modification of their surfaces with desired biotinylated antibodies through biotin-avidin binding.

Pulverization Control by Confining Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Individually into Macropores of Hollow Carbon Spheres for High-Performance Li-Ion Batteries

In this article, double carbon shell hollow spheres which provide macropores (mC) for ultrasmall Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle (10-20 nm) encapsulation individually were first prepared (Fe₃O₄@mC). The well-constructed Fe₃O₄@mC electrode materials offer the feasibility to study the volume change, aggregation, and pulverization process of the active Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles for Li-ion storage in a confined space. Fe₃O₄@mC exhibits excellent electrochemical performances and delivers a high capacity of 645 mA h g^-1 at 2 A g^-1 after 1000 cycles. Even at 10 A g^-1 or after 1000 cycles at 2 A g^-1, the porous carbon structure was well maintained and no obvious aggregation and pulverization of the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles was observed, although the volume of the active Fe₃O₄ particles was expanded to 40-60 nm compared to that of the original particles (10-20 nm). This can be due to the in situ embedment of one Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle into one macropore individually. The uniform dispersion and confinement of the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in the macropores of the carbon shell could effectively accommodate severe volume variations upon cycling and prevent self-aggregation and spreading out from the carbon shell during the expansion process of the nanoscale Fe₃O₄ particles, leading to improved capacity retention. Our work confirms the effectiveness for pulverization control by confining Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles individually into macropores to improve its Li-ion storage properties, providing a novel strategy for the design of new-structured anode materials for Li-ion batteries.

One-pot synthesis of biodegradable polydopamine-doped mesoporous silica nanocomposites (PMSNs) as pH-sensitive targeting drug nanocarriers for synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy

Polydopamine-doped mesoporous silica nanocomposites (PMSNs) were controllably synthesized by a one-pot approach. They were demonstrated to be good biodegradability, pH-responsive drug release and targeting synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy.

Progress of recyclable magnetic particles for biomedical applications

The preparation, types, recycling methods, biomedical applications and outlook of recyclable magnetic particles have been reviewed.

Magnetic Nanoparticles: From Design and Synthesis to Real World Applications

The increasing number of scientific publications focusing on magnetic materials indicates growing interest in the broader scientific community. Substantial progress was made in the synthesis of magnetic materials of desired size, morphology, chemical composition, and surface chemistry. Physical and chemical stability of magnetic materials is acquired by the coating. Moreover, surface layers of polymers, silica, biomolecules, etc. can be designed to obtain affinity to target molecules. The combination of the ability to respond to the external magnetic field and the rich possibilities of coatings makes magnetic materials universal tool for magnetic separations of small molecules, biomolecules and cells. In the biomedical field, magnetic particles and magnetic composites are utilized as the drug carriers, as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and in magnetic hyperthermia. However, the multifunctional magnetic particles enabling the diagnosis and therapy at the same time are emerging. The presented review article summarizes the findings regarding the design and synthesis of magnetic materials focused on biomedical applications. We highlight the utilization of magnetic materials in separation/preconcentration of various molecules and cells, and their use in diagnosis and therapy.

Room-temperature synthesis of core–shell structured magnetic covalent organic frameworks for efficient enrichment of peptides and simultaneous exclusion of proteins

Core–shell structured Fe₃O₄@COFs were synthesized and used as a new absorbent for efficient enrichment of peptides and simultaneous exclusion of proteins.

Formation of Fe3O4@SiO2@C/Ni hybrids with enhanced catalytic activity and histidine-rich protein separation

In this paper, we have developed an extended Stöber method to construct a Ni(2+)-polydopamine (PDA) complex thin coating on Fe3O4@SiO2 spheres, which can be carbonized to produce hybrid composites with metallic nickel nanoparticles embedded in a PDA-derived thin graphitic carbon layer (named Fe3O4@SiO2@C/Ni). Interestingly, by introducing a thin SiO2 spacer layer between PDA-Ni(2+) and Fe3O4, the reverse electron transfer from PDA to Fe3O4 is probably able to be suppressed in the calcination process, which leads to the in situ reduction of only Ni(2+) by PDA instead of Fe3O4 and Ni(2+). Consequently, the size and density of nickel nanoparticles on the surface of SiO2@Fe3O4 can be finely adjusted. Moreover, it is found that the ability of tuning nickel nanoparticles is mainly dependent on the thickness of the spacer layer. When the thickness of the SiO2 spacer is beyond the electron penetration depth, the size and density of nickel nanoparticles can be exactly tuned. The as-prepared Fe3O4@SiO2@C/Ni was employed as the catalyst to investigate the catalytic performance in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP); furthermore, nickel nanoparticles decorated on Fe3O4@SiO2@C spheres display a strong affinity to His-tagged proteins (BHb and BSA) via a specific metal affinity force between polyhistidine groups and nickel nanoparticles.

Graphene-Templated Synthesis of Magnetic Metal Organic Framework Nanocomposites for Selective Enrichment of Biomolecules

Successful control of homogeneous and complete coating of graphene or graphene-based composites with well-defined metal organic framework (MOF) layers is a great challenge. Herein, novel magnetic graphene MOF composites were constructed via a simple strategy for self-assembly of well-distributed, dense, and highly porous MOFs on both sides of graphene nanosheets. Graphene functionalized with magnetic nanoparticles and carboxylic groups on both sides was explored as the backbone and template to direct the controllable self-assembly of MOFs. The prepared composite materials have a relatively high specific surface area (345.4 m(2) g(-1)), and their average pore size is measured to be 3.2 nm. Their relatively high saturation magnetization (23.8 emu g(-1)) indicates their strong magnetism at room temperature. Moreover, the multifunctional composite was demonstrated to be a highly effective affinity material in selective extraction and separation of low-concentration biomolecules from biological samples, in virtue of the size-selection property of the unique porous structure and the excellent affinity of the composite materials. Besides providing a solution for the construction of well-defined functional graphene-based MOFs, this work could also contribute to selective extraction of biomolecules, in virtue of the universal affinity between immobilized metal ions and biomolecules.

Integration of inorganic nanostructures with polydopamine-derived carbon: tunable morphologies and versatile applications

Polydopamine (PDA), a mussel adhesive-inspired biomimetic polymer, has attracted tremendous attention owing to its extremely versatile adhesion properties, facile aqueous coating process, capability of self-assembly to form nanostructures, and abundant surface functional groups for secondary modification. PDA is also a fantastic carbon source because it gives nitrogen (N)-doped graphite-like carbon in high yield, and the carbonized PDA (C-PDA) thin coatings have similar properties to those of N-doped multilayered graphene, i.e., they exhibit high electrical conductivity, and good electrochemical and mechanical properties. In comparison with other carbon sources, an outstanding feature of PDA lies in its ease of integration with inorganic nanostructures and capability for easy tailoring the structure and morphology of the resultant composite nanostructures. In this article, different routes for the preparation of C-PDA-based composite nanostructures, such as carbon/metal oxide and carbon/Si hollow, mesoporous, core-shell, yolk-shell nanostructures, are introduced with typical examples. The structures, morphologies and properties of the C-PDA-based composite nanostructures are also reviewed, and their potential applications in various engineering fields, such as energy storage, solar water splitting, flexible electronics, catalysis, sensing and environmental engineering, are highlighted. Finally a future outlook for this fascinating composite-nanostructure enabler is also presented.

C8-modified CeO2//SiO2 Janus fibers for selective capture and individual MS detection of low-abundance peptides and phosphopeptides

The novel CeO₂//SiO₂-C8 probe with a Janus structure can selectively extract low-abundance peptides and phosphopeptides from biosamples for individual MS detection.

Large scale combustion synthesis of glass-γ-Fe2O3 double shell composite hollow microspheres with tunable magnetic property

Novel fast dehydration–combustion route to glass-γ-Fe₂O₃ double shell composite hollow microspheres with low density and tunable magnetic properties.

Preparation of catalytic films of the Au nanoparticle-carbon composite tubular arrays

Catalytic films comprising the arrayed mesoporous and big-inner-diameter carbon nanotubes embedded with high density Au nanoparticles were prepared through a template-directed carbonization route.

Preparation and magnetic and thermal properties of flexible polyimide films with iron nitrophthalocyanine-coated magnetite microspheres

To effectively utilize the one-step solvent–thermal route to prepare iron (Fe)–nitrophthalocyanine/magnetite (Fe3O4) hybrid microspheres, we have developed a novel series of flexible Fe3O4/Fe-phthalocyanine (FePc)/polyimide (PI) composite films with various Fe3O4/FePc nanoparticle loadings (15, 27, and 40 wt%) and imidized at different temperatures (200°C and 300°C). The morphology and structure of the composite films were monitored using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, and the hybrid microspheres were found uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrices without any agglomeration. Mechanical and thermal properties of the composites were also investigated. The observed results indicated enhanced thermal stabilities, dramatically increased tensile modulus, and increased glass transition temperatures of the composite films, with the increment in the content of inorganic nanoparticles. Besides that, the Fe3O4/FePc/PI magnetic films showed higher saturation magnetization (24.33 emu g−1, 27 wt% Fe3O4/FePc loading) with high-temperature treatment compared with that of the Fe3O4/PI film (18.79 emu g−1, 27 wt% Fe3O4 loading). It proved to be an effective way to prevent Fe3O4 nanoparticles from oxidizing by coating the nanoparticles with organic layer. The flexible composite films can easily be moved under a relatively low magnetic field, indicating them to be the high-performance absorbing materials in potential applications.

Nanostructured microfluidic digestion system for rapid high-performance proteolysis

A novel microfluidic protein digestion system with a nanostructured and bioactive inner surface was constructed by an easy biomimetic self-assembly strategy for rapid and effective proteolysis in 2 minutes, which is faster than the conventional overnight digestion methods. It is expected that this work would contribute to rapid online digestion in future high-throughput proteomics.

Magnetic C–C@Fe3O4 double-shelled hollow microspheres via aerosol-based Fe3O4@C-SiO2 core–shell particles

Fe₃O₄@C-SiO₂ core–shell hollow particles and their transformation to C–C@Fe₃O₄ double-shelled magnetic microspheres.

Cyclodextrin-functionalized hollow carbon nanospheres by introducing nanogold for enhanced electrochemical sensing of o-dihydroxybenzene and p-dihydroxybenzene

A cyclodextrin–gold nanoparticles/hollow carbon nanospheres nanohybrid was prepared for the sensitive simultaneous electrochemical sensing of o- and p-dihydroxybenzene.

Effect of annealing temperature on the structure of carbon encapsulated Fe3O4 nanospheres

Yolk–shell structured Fe₃O₄@C was obtained at 600 °C. A possible evolution mechanism of core–shell to yolk–shell Fe₃O₄@C is elaborated.