This Perspective explores and explains the fundamental dogma of nanoparticle delivery to tumours and answers two central questions: ‘how many nanoparticles accumulate in a tumour?’ and ‘how does this number affect the clinical translation of nanomedicines?’

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Analysis of nanoparticle delivery to tumours

Functional Nanomaterials for Phototherapies of Cancer

Developing highly efficient catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is key to the fabrication of commercially viable fuel cell devices and metal–air batteries for future energy applications. Herein, we review the most recent advances in the development of Pt-based and Pt-free materials in the field of fuel cell ORR catalysis. This review covers catalyst material selection, design, synthesis, and characterization, as well as the theoretical understanding of the catalysis process and mechanisms. The integration of these catalysts into fuel cell operations and the resulting performance/durability are also discussed. Finally, we provide insights into the remaining challenges and directions for future perspectives and research.

Recent advancements in Pt and Pt-free catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

Increasing energy demands and environment awareness have promoted extensive research on the development of alternative energy conversion and storage technologies with high efficiency and environmental friendliness. Among them, water splitting is very appealing, and is receiving more and more attention. The critical challenge of this renewable-energy technology is to expedite the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) because of its slow kinetics and large overpotential. Therefore, developing efficient electrocatalysts with high catalytic activities is of great importance for high-performance water splitting. In the past few years, much effort has been devoted to the development of alternative OER electrocatalysts based on transition-metal elements that are low-cost, highly efficient, and have excellent stability. Here, recent progress on the design, synthesis, and application of OER electrocatalysts based on transition-metal elements, including Co, Ni, and Fe, is summarized, and some invigorating perspectives on the future developments are provided.

Transition-Metal (Co, Ni, and Fe)-Based Electrocatalysts for the Water Oxidation Reaction

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted tremendous interest because of their high theoretical energy density and cost effectiveness. The target of Li-S battery research is to produce batteries with a high useful energy density that at least outperforms state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. However, due to an intrinsic gap between fundamental research and practical applications, the outstanding electrochemical results obtained in most Li-S battery studies indeed correspond to low useful energy densities and are not really suitable for practical requirements. The Li-S battery is a complex device and its useful energy density is determined by a number of design parameters, most of which are often ignored, leading to the failure to meet commercial requirements. The purpose of this review is to discuss how to pave the way for reliable Li-S batteries. First, the current research status of Li-S batteries is briefly reviewed based on statistical information obtained from literature. This includes an analysis of how the various parameters influence the useful energy density and a summary of existing problems in the current Li-S battery research. Possible solutions and some concerns regarding the construction of reliable Li-S batteries are comprehensively discussed. Finally, insights are offered on the future directions and prospects in Li-S battery field.

More Reliable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: Status, Solutions and Prospects.

From Hollow Carbon Spheres to N-Doped Hollow Porous Carbon Bowls: Rational Design of Hollow Carbon Host for Li-S Batteries

A Two-Dimensional Porous Carbon-Modified Separator for High-Energy-Density Li-S Batteries

Polypyrrole nanoparticles for high-performance in vivo near-infrared photothermal cancer therapy

MOST of China [2011CB932403]; NSF of China [21131005, 20925103, 21021061, 21175042]; Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation [121011]; NSF of Fujian [2009J06005]; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [20100480716]

Facile synthesis of manganese-oxide-containing mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon for efficient oxygen reduction

Hollow mesoporous silica spheres have recently attracted increasing attention. However, effective synthesis of uniform hollow mesoporous spheres with controllable well-defined pore structures for fundamental research and practical applications has remained a significant challenge. In this work, a straightforward and effective “cationic surfactant assisted selective etching” synthetic strategy was developed for the preparation of high-quality hollow mesoporous silica spheres with either wormhole-like or oriented mesoporous shell. The as-prepared hollow mesoporous silica spheres have large surface area, high pore volume, and controllable structure parameters. Our experiments demonstrated that cationic surfactant plays critical roles in forming the hollow mesoporous structure. A formation mechanism involving the etching of solid SiO2 accelerated by cationic surfactant followed by the redeposition of dissolved silica species directed by cationic surfactant is proposed. Furthermore, the strategy can be extended as a general strategy to transform silica-coated composite materials into yolk-shell structures with either wormhole-like or oriented mesoporous shell.

Xiaoliang Fang

Papers

From Hollow Carbon Spheres to N-Doped Hollow Porous Carbon Bowls: Rational Design of Hollow Carbon Host for Li-S Batteries

A Two-Dimensional Porous Carbon-Modified Separator for High-Energy-Density Li-S Batteries

Polypyrrole nanoparticles for high-performance in vivo near-infrared photothermal cancer therapy

Facile synthesis of manganese-oxide-containing mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon for efficient oxygen reduction

A cationic surfactant assisted selective etching strategy to hollow mesoporous silica spheres