Mild hyperthermia enhanced synergistic uric acid degradation and multiple ROS elimination for an effective acute gout therapy.

BACKGROUND: Acute gouty is caused by the excessive accumulation of Monosodium Urate (MSU) crystals within various parts of the body, which leads to a deterioration of the local microenvironment. This degradation is marked by elevated levels of uric acid (UA), increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, hypoxic conditions, an upsurge in pro-inflammatory mediators, and mitochondrial dysfunction. RESULTS: In this study, we developed a multifunctional nanoparticle of polydopamine-platinum (PDA@Pt) to combat acute gout by leveraging mild hyperthermia to synergistically enhance UA degradation and anti-inflammatory effect. Herein, PDA acts as a foundational template that facilitates the growth of a Pt shell on the surface of its nanospheres, leading to the formation of the PDA@Pt nanomedicine. Within this therapeutic agent, the Pt nanoparticle catalyzes the decomposition of UA and actively breaks down endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to produce O2, which helps to alleviate hypoxic conditions. Concurrently, the PDA component possesses exceptional capacity for ROS scavenging. Most significantly, Both PDA and Pt shell exhibit absorption in the Near-Infrared-II (NIR-II) region, which not only endow PDA@Pt with superior photothermal conversion efficiency for effective photothermal therapy (PTT) but also substantially enhances the nanomedicine's capacity for UA degradation, O2 production and ROS scavenging enzymatic activities. This photothermally-enhanced approach effectively facilitates the repair of mitochondrial damage and downregulates the NF-κB signaling pathway to inhibit the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. CONCLUSIONS: The multifunctional nanomedicine PDA@Pt exhibits exceptional efficacy in UA reduction and anti-inflammatory effects, presenting a promising potential therapeutic strategy for the management of acute gout.

Preparation, characterisation and comparison of glabridin-loaded hydrogel-forming microneedles by chemical and physical cross-linking.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and carbomer were used as the hydrogel system to fabricate glabridin-loaded hydrogel-forming microneedles (HFMNs) by chemical cross-linking (CCMNs) and physical cross-linking (PCMNs). The properties and drug permeation effects of glabridin-loaded HFMNs with different methods were compared. They both owned excellent shapes, mechanical and insertion properties. PCMNs showed collapsed shapes during swelling due to the low cross-linking rate and high porosity, which probably results in resealing of skin pores during transdermal drug delivery. However, CCMNs could rapidly swell within 2 h with slightly bending. The infrared spectra indicate that CCMNs and PCMNs might form the hydrogel network by generating hydrogen and covalent bonds, respectively. The in vitro release studies showed that cumulative permeation amount within 24 h (1654 µg/cm2) of CCMNs significantly higher than that (372 µg/cm2) achieved by PCMNs and that (118 µg/cm2) achieved by glabridin-loaded gel. The skin barrier recovery test suggests the desirable security of both microneedles (MNs), notwithstanding the presence of mild erythema in the mouse skin applied CCMNs. These results indicate that CCMNs were more desirable for glabridin delivery using PVA and carbomer as a skeleton of the hydrogel network.

Hierarchically porous nanosheets-constructed 3D carbon network for ultrahigh-capacity supercapacitor and battery anode.

An advanced hierarchically porous nanosheets-constructed three-dimensional (3D) carbon material (HPNSC) is prepared by using low-cost agricultural waste-nelumbium seed-pods as the precursor, and potassium hydroxide (KOH) as the activator. The as-prepared HPNSC material has a hierarchically porous nanosheets-constructed structure with 3D carbon nanosheet network morphology, which can enable fast and efficient transfer of Li+/Na+/H+ during charge-discharge process. The assembled HPNSC//HPNSC symmetric supercapacitors exhibit an improved energy density of 41.3 W h kg-1 with a power density of 180 W kg-1 in 1 mol l-1 Na2SO4 electrolyte. The energy density can still be maintained at 16.3 W h kg-1 even if the power density is increased to 9000 W kg-1. When acting as the reversible electrode for lithium ion batteries, this HPNSC material can achieve a high specific capacity of 1246 mA h g-1 at 0.1 A g-1. Moreover, sodium ion battery with HPNSC electrode exhibits excellent cycling performance of 161.8 mA h g-1 maintained even after being cycled 3350 times. The electrochemical performances clearly indicate that the HPNSC developed in this work is a very promising energy storage electrode material, and can further provide new insights for designing and developing highly porous materials for energy storage in other fields.

Advanced P2-Na2/3Ni1/3Mn7/12Fe1/12O2 Cathode Material with Suppressed P2-O2 Phase Transition toward High-Performance Sodium-Ion Battery.

As a promising cathode material of sodium-ion battery, P2-type Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2 (NNMO) possesses a theoretically high capacity and working voltage to realize high energy storage density. However, it still suffers from poor cycling stability mainly incurred by the undesirable P2-O2 phase transition. Herein, the electrochemically active Fe3+ ions are introduced into the lattice of NNMO, forming Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3- xFe xO2 ( x = 0, 1/24, 1/12, 1/8, 1/6) to effectively stabilize the P2-type crystalline structure. In such Fe-substituted materials, both Ni2+/Ni4+ and Fe3+/Fe4+ couples take part in the redox reactions, and the P2-O2 phase transition is well restrained during cycling, as verified by ex situ X-ray diffraction. As a result, the optimized Na2/3Ni1/3Mn7/12Fe1/12O2 (1/12-NNMF) has a long-term cycling stability with the fading rate of 0.05% per cycle over 300 cycles at 5 C. Furthermore, the 1/12-NNMF delivers excellent rate capabilities (65 mA h g-1 at 25 C) and superior low-temperature performance (the capacity retention of 94% at -25 °C after 80 cycles) owing to the enhanced Na diffusion upon Fe doping, which is deduced by the studies of electrode kinetics. More significantly, the 1/12-NNMF also displays remarkable sodium-ion full-cell properties when merged with an LS-Sb@G anode, thus implying the possibility of their practical application.

Pseudocapacitance-boosted ultrafast Na storage in a pie-like FeS@C nanohybrid as an advanced anode material for sodium-ion full batteries.

In order to develop promising anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), a novel pie-like FeS@C (P-FeS@C) nanohybrid, in which all ultrasmall FeS nanocrystals (NCs) are completely embedded into the carbon network and sealed by a protective carbon shell, has been prepared. The unique pie-like structure can effectively speed up the kinetics of electrode reactions, while the carbon shell stabilizes the FeS NCs inside. Studies show that the electrochemical reaction processes of P-FeS@C electrodes are dominated by the pseudocapacitive behavior, leading to an ultrafast Na+-insertion/extraction reaction. Hence, the prepared P-FeS@C nanohybrid exhibits superior Na-storage properties especially high rate capability in half cells. For example, it can deliver reversible capacities of 555.1 mA h g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 over 150 cycles and about 60.4 mA h g-1 at 80 A g-1 (an ultrahigh current density even higher than that of the capacitor test). Furthermore, an advanced P-FeS@C//Na3V2(PO4)2O2F full cell has been assembled out, which delivers a stable specific capacity of 441.2 mA h g-1 after 80 cycles at 0.5 A g-1 with a capacity retention of 91.8%.

Quasi-Solid-State Sodium-Ion Full Battery with High-Power/Energy Densities.

Developing a high-performance, low-cost, and safer rechargeable battery is a primary challenge in next-generation electrochemical energy storage. In this work, a quasi-solid-state (QSS) sodium-ion full battery (SIFB) is designed and fabricated. Hard carbon cloth derived from cotton cloth and Na3V2(PO4)2O2F (NVPOF) are employed as the anode and the cathode, respectively, and a sodium ion-conducting gel-polymer membrane is used as both the QSS electrolyte and separator, accomplishing the high energy and power densities in the QSS sodium-ion batteries. The energy density can reach 460 W h kg-1 according to the mass of the cathode materials. Moreover, the fabricated QSS SIFB also exhibits an excellent rate performance (e.g., about 78.1 mA h g-1 specific capacity at 10 C) and a superior cycle performance (e.g., ∼90% capacity retention after 500 cycles at 10 C). These results show that the developed QSS SIFB is a hopeful candidate for large-scale energy storage.

P2-Na2/3Ni1/3Mn5/9Al1/9O2 Microparticles as Superior Cathode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries: Enhanced Properties and Mechanisam via Graphene Connection.

As a promising alternative for lithium ion batteries, room-temperature sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have become one significant research frontier of energy storage devices although there are still many difficulties to be overcome. For the moment, the studies still concentrate on the preparation of new electrode materials for SIBs to meet the applicability. Herein, one new P2-Na2/3Ni1/3Mn5/9Al1/9O2 (NMA) cathode material is successfully prepared via a simple and facile liquid-state method. The prepared NMA is layered transition metal oxide, which can keep stable crystal structure during sodiation/desodiation as demonstrated by the ex situ X-ray diffraction, and its electrochemical properties can be further enhanced by connecting the cake-like NMA microparticles with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) using a ball milling method. Electrochemical tests show that the formed RGO-connected NMA (NMA/RGO) can deliver a higher reversible capacity of up to 138 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 C and also exhibit a superior high-rate capabilities and cycling stability in comparison to pure NMA. The much improved properties should be attributed to the reduced particle size and improvement of electrical conductivity and apparent Na(+) diffusion due to RGO incorporation, which is comprehensively verified by the electrochemical technologies of galvanostatic intermittent titration technique, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry at various scan rate as well as ex-situ X-ray diffraction studies.