2020, Liang, Mingxing, Wang, Lei, Presser, Volker, Dai, Xiaohu, Yu, Fei, Ma, Jie

The recent advances in chloride‐ion capturing electrodes for capacitive deionization (CDI) are limited by the capacity, rate, and stability of desalination. This work introduces Ti3C2Tx/Ag synthesized via a facile oxidation‐reduction method and then uses it as an anode for chloride‐ion capture in CDI. Silver nanoparticles are formed successfully and uniformly distributed with the layered‐structure of Ti3C2Tx. All Ti3C2Tx/Ag samples are hydrophilic, which is beneficial for water desalination. Ti3C2Tx/Ag samples with a low charge transfer resistance exhibit both pseudocapacitive and battery behaviors. Herein, the Ti3C2Tx/Ag electrode with a reaction time of 3 h exhibits excellent desalination performance with a capacity of 135 mg Cl− g−1 at 20 mA g−1 in a 10 × 10−3 m NaCl solution. Furthermore, low energy consumption of 0.42 kWh kg−1 Cl− and a desalination rate of 1.5 mg Cl− g−1 min−1 at 50 mA g−1 is achieved. The Ti3C2Tx/Ag system exhibits fast rate capability, high desalination capacity, low energy consumption, and excellent cyclability, which can be ascribed to the synergistic effect between the battery and pseudocapacitive behaviors of the Ti3C2Tx/Ag hybrid material. This work provides fundamental insight into the coupling of battery and pseudocapacitive behaviors during Cl− capture for electrochemical desalination.

2020, Chen, Yaping, Wang, Ji, Li, Xiangling, Hu, Ning, Voelcker, Nicolas H., Xie, Xi, Elnathan, Roey

Engineered nano–bio cellular interfaces driven by 1D vertical nanostructures (1D‐VNS) are set to prompt radical progress in modulating cellular processes at the nanoscale. Here, tuneable cell–VNS interfacial interactions are probed and assessed, highlighting the use of 1D‐VNS in immunomodulation, and intracellular delivery into immune cells—both crucial in fundamental and translational biomedical research. With programmable topography and adaptable surface functionalization, 1D‐VNS provide unique biophysical and biochemical cues to orchestrate innate and adaptive immunity, both ex vivo and in vivo. The intimate nanoscale cell–VNS interface leads to membrane penetration and cellular deformation, facilitating efficient intracellular delivery of diverse bioactive cargoes into hard‐to‐transfect immune cells. The unsettled interfacial mechanisms reported to be involved in VNS‐mediated intracellular delivery are discussed. By identifying up‐to‐date progress and fundamental challenges of current 1D‐VNS technology in immune‐cell manipulation, it is hoped that this report gives timely insights for further advances in developing 1D‐VNS as a safe, universal, and highly scalable platform for cell engineering and enrichment in advanced cancer immunotherapy such as chimeric antigen receptor‐T therapy.

2020, Thiemecke, Jonathan, Hensel, René

The transfer of biological concepts into synthetic micropatterned adhesives has recently enabled a new generation of switchable, reversible handling devices. Over the last two decades, many design principles have been explored that helped to understand the underlying mechanics and to optimize such adhesives for certain applications. An aspect that has been overlooked so far is the influence of longer hold times on the adhesive contacts. Exemplarily, the pull‐off stress and work of separation of a micropatterned adhesive specimen are enhanced by factors 3 and 6, respectively, after 1000 min in contact with a glass substrate. In addition to such global measures, the increase of adhesion of all individual micropillars is analyzed. It is found that contact aging varied across the microarray, as it drastically depends on local conditions. Despite great differences on the micropillar scale, the adhesion of entire specimens increased with very similar power laws, as this is determined by the mean contact ageing of the individual structures. Overall, contact aging must be critically evaluated before using micropatterned adhesives, especially for long‐term fixations and material combinations that are chemically attractive to each other.

2020, Shim, Hwirim, Arnold, Stefanie, Budak, Öznil, Ulbricht, Maike, Srimuk, Pattarachai, Presser, Volker

This study demonstrates the hybridization of Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) with different types of carbon onions synthesized from nanodiamonds. The carbon onions mixed with a Li4Ti5Ox precursor for sol–gel synthesis. These hybrid materials are tested as anodes for both lithium‐ion battery (LIB) and sodium‐ion battery (SIB). Electrochemical characterization for LIB application is carried out using 1 m LiPF6 in a 1:1 (by volume) ethylene carbonate and dimethyl carbonate as the electrolyte. For lithium‐ion intercalation, LTO hybridized with carbon onions from the inert‐gas route achieves an excellent electrochemical performance of 188 mAh g−1 at 10 mA g−1, which maintains 100 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 and has a cycling stability of 96% of initial capacity after 400 cycles, thereby outperforming both neat LTO and LTO with onions obtained via vacuum treatment. The performance of the best‐performing hybrid material (LTO with carbon onions from argon annealing) in an SIB is tested, using 1 m NaClO4 in ethylene/dimethyl/fluoroethylene carbonate (19:19:2 by mass) as the electrolyte. A maximum capacity of 102 mAh g−1 for the SIB system is obtained, with a capacity retention of 96% after 500 cycles.