Abstract: Developing low-cost yet efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts is of paramount importance for the widespread application of renewable energy technologies. Here, a promising catalyst of the Co–Ni nanoalloy–organic framework (Co–Ni NOF) that significantly accelerates the ORR kinetics process has been synthesized by a straightforward pyrolysis strategy. This Co–Ni NOF catalyst with robust stability and strong methanol tolerance exhibits remarkable ORR activity with an excellent half-wave potential of 0.88 V (30 mV superior to that of commercial Pt/C) and an outstanding kinetic current density of 162.9 mA/cm2 at 0.80 V in 0.1 M KOH, which is 17 times that of Pt/C and outperforms most non-noble catalysts reported so far. The electronic structure characterizations d

Abstract: Biomedical optical imaging is playing an important role in diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. However, the accuracy and the reproducibility of an optical imaging device are greatly affected by the performance characteristics of its components, the test environment, and the operations. Therefore, it is necessary to calibrate these devices by traceable phantom standards. However, most of the currently available phantoms are homogeneous phantoms that cannot simulate multimodal and dynamic characteristics of biological tissue. Here, we show the fabrication of heterogeneous tissue-simulating phantoms using a production line integrating a spin coating module, a polyjet module, a fused deposition modeling (FDM) module, and an automatic control framework. The structural informa

Abstract: Stimuli-responsive microcarriers have received considerable attention in a variety of fields, including disease diagnosis, drug delivery, sensing, and imaging. Here, we report the generation of multiple-responsive perfluorocarbon-loaded magnetic hydrogel microcapsules (PMHMs) with uniform size for magnetic controlled ultrasound (US) and laser activation. The PMHMs are fabricated by a novel coaxial interface shearing (CIS) method based on the mechanism of liquid bridge formation and fracture. Perfluorocarbon and iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles are used as US-responsive and photothermal absorption medium, respectively, and magnetic nanoparticles are also used for magnetic-controlled targeting. Moreover, the size, structure, and function of the prepared biocompatible PMHMs can be

Abstract: We propose a coaxial oblique interface shearing (COIS) process for one-step generation of double emulsions which are synchronously sorted with spatial gradient distributions. As a coaxial needle supplying the inner and outer liquids obliquely vibrates across an air-liquid interface, the pinch-off of the compound liquid neck arises and the resultant double emulsions moves with tunable lateral displacements in the receiving phase. In the COIS process, the morphology and size of the double emulsions are heavily dependent on the vibration frequency and the inner and outer liquid flow rates. The lateral droplet displacements changing with process parameters can be precisely controlled in experiments and predicted theoretically by the Stokes drift model. Furthermore, the feasibility of

Abstract: Effective delivery of chemotherapeutics with minimal toxicity and maximal outcome is clinically important but technically challenging. Here, we synthesize a complex of doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded magneto-liposome (DOX-ML) microbubbles (DOX-ML-MBs) for magnetically responsive and ultrasonically sensitive delivery of anticancer therapies with enhanced efficiency. Citrate-stabilized iron oxide nanoparticles (MNs) of 6.8 +/- 1.36 nm were synthesized, loaded with DOX in the core of oligolamellar vesicles of 172 +/- 9.2 nm, and covalently conjugated with perfluorocarbon (PFC)-gas-loaded microbubbles to form DOX-ML-MBs of approximately 4 mum. DOX-ML-MBs exhibited significant magnetism and were able to release chemotherapeutics and DOX-MLs instantly upon exposure to ultrasound (US) pulses.