High-Density Nanosharp Microstructures Enable Efficient CO2 Electroreduction.

Conversion of CO2 to CO powered by renewable electricity not only reduces CO2 pollution but also is a means to store renewable energy via chemical production of fuels from CO. However, the kinetics of this reaction are slow due its large energetic barrier. We have recently reported CO2 reduction that is considerably enhanced via local electric field concentration at the tips of sharp gold nanostructures. The high local electric field enhances CO2 concentration at the catalytic active sites, lowering the activation barrier. Here we engineer the nucleation and growth of next-generation Au nanostructures. The electroplating overpotential was manipulated to generate an appreciably increased density of honed nanoneedles. Using this approach, we report the first application of sequential electrodeposition to increase the density of sharp tips in CO2 electroreduction. Selective regions of the primary nanoneedles are passivated using a thiol SAM (self-assembled monolayer), and then growth is concentrated atop the uncovered high-energy planes, providing new nucleation sites that ultimately lead to an increase in the density of the nanosharp structures. The two-step process leads to a new record in CO2 to CO reduction, with a geometric current density of 38 mA/cm2 at -0.4 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode), and a 15-fold improvement over the best prior reports of electrochemical surface area (ECSA) normalized current density.

Beyond the Capture of Circulating Tumor Cells: Next-Generation Devices and Materials.

Over the last decade, significant progress has been made towards the development of approaches that enable the capture of rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of cancer patients, a critical capability for noninvasive tumor profiling. These advances have leveraged new insights in materials chemistry and microfluidics and allowed the capture and enumeration of CTCs with unprecedented sensitivity. However, it has become increasingly clear that simply capturing and counting tumor cells launched into the bloodstream may not provide the information needed to advance our understanding of the biology of these rare cells, or to allow us to better exploit them in medicine. A variety of advances have now emerged demonstrating that more information can be extracted from CTCs with next-generation devices and materials featuring tailored physical and chemical properties. In this Minireview, the last ten years of work in this area will be discussed, with an emphasis on the groundbreaking work of the last five years, during which the focus has moved beyond the simple capture of CTCs and gravitated towards approaches that enable in-depth analysis.