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Mesoporous carbon hollow spheres (MCHS) have wide applications, including catalysis, absorption, and energy storage/conversion. Herein, we report a one-pot, surfactant-free synthesis of MCHS using three molecules: resorcinol, formaldehyde, and tetrapropyl orthosilicate. The co-condensation process between the in situ generated silica primary particles and the polymer oligomers is regulated, leading to monodispersed MCHS with adjustable pore sizes from micropores to 13.9 nm. The resultant MCHS shows excellent performance for electrochemical double-layer capacitors with high capacitance (310 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1)), excellent rate capability (157 F g(-1) at 50 A g(-1)), and outstanding cycling stability (98.6% capacity retention after 10 000 cycles at 10 A g(-1)). Our one-pot synthesis strategy is versatile and can be extended to fabricate metal oxide@mesoporous carbon yolk-shell structures in the absence of surfactant, paving the way toward designed synthesis of nanostructured mesoporous carbon composites for various applications.

Nature's creations with spiky topological features typically exhibit intriguing surface adhesive properties. From micrometer-sized pollen grains that can easily stick to hairy insects for pollination to nanoscale virus particles that are highly infectious toward host cells, multivalent interactions are formed taking advantage of rough surfaces. Herein, this nature-inspired concept is employed to develop novel drug delivery nanocarriers for antimicrobial applications. A facile new approach is developed to fabricate silica nanopollens (mesoporous silica nanospheres with rough surfaces), which show enhanced adhesion toward bacteria surfaces compared to their counterparts with smooth surfaces. Lysozyme, a natural antimicrobial enzyme, is loaded into silica nanopollens and shows sustained release behavior, potent antimicrobial activity, and long-term total bacterial inhibition up to 3 days toward Escherichia coli. The potent antibacterial activity of lysozyme-loaded silica nanopollens is further demonstrated ex vivo by using a small-intestine infection model. Our strategy provides a novel pathway in the rational design of nanocarriers for efficient drug delivery.

A new type of monodispersed mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a core-cone structure (MSN-CC) has been synthesized. The large cone-shaped pores are formed by silica lamellae closely packed encircling a spherical core, showing a structure similar to the flower dahlia. MSN-CC has a large pore size of 45 nm and a high pore volume of 2.59 cm(3) g(-1). MSN-CC demonstrates a high loading capacity of large proteins and successfully delivers active β-galactosidase into cells, showing their potential as efficient nanocarriers for the cellular delivery of proteins with large molecular weights.

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Periodontal regeneration is defined as regeneration of the tooth-supporting tissues including cementum, periodontal ligament, and alveolar bone. Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) has been demonstrated to be an effective technique to achieve periodontal regeneration. In the GTR procedures, various kinds of membranes play important roles. Chitosan, a deacetylated derivative of chitin, is biocompatible, biodegradable, and antimicrobial. It acts as hydrating agent and possesses tissue healing and osteoinducing effect. Chitosan can be easily processed into membranes, gels, nanofibers, beads, nanoparticles, scaffolds, and sponges forms and can be used in drug delivery systems. Here, we review the bioproperties of chitosan and report the progress of application of chitosan as membranes in GTR and guided bone regeneration (GBR), which indicates that chitosan could be a good substrate candidate as the materials for the GTR/GBR membranes.

Asymmetric mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with controllable head-tail structures have been successfully synthesized. The head particle type is tunable (solid or porous), and the tail has dendritic large pores. The tail length and tail coverage on head particles are adjustable. Compared to spherical silica nanoparticles with a solid structure (Stöber spheres) or large-pore symmetrical MSNs with fully covered tails, asymmetrical head-tail MSNs (HTMSNs) show superior hemocompatibility due to reduced membrane deformation of red blood cells and decreased level of reactive oxygen species. Moreover, compared to Stöber spheres, asymmetrical HTMSNs exhibit a higher level of uptake and in vitro maturation of immune cells including dendritic cells and macrophage. This study has provided a new family of nanocarriers with potential applications in vaccine development and immunotherapy.

Abstract:The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has measured the production cross section of events with two isolated photons in the final state, in proton-proton collisions at √ s = 7 TeV. The full data set collected in 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb −1 , is used. The amount of background, from hadronic jets and isolated electrons, is estimated with data-driven techniques and subtracted. The total cross section, for two isolated photons with transverse energies above 25 GeV and 22 GeV respectively, in the acceptance of the electromagnetic calorimeter (|η| < 1.37 and 1.52 < |η| < 2.37) and with an angular separation ∆R > 0.4, is 44.0The differential cross sections as a function of the di-photon invariant mass, transverse momentum, azimuthal separation, and cosine of the polar angle of the largest transverse energy photon in the Collins-Soper di-photon rest frame are also measured. The results are compared to the prediction of leading-order parton-shower and next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order parton-level generators. The ATLAS collaboration 26 IntroductionThe measurement at the LHC of the production cross section, in pp collisions, of two isolated photons not originating from hadronic decays, pp → γγ + X, provides a tool to probe perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) predictions and to understand the irreducible background to new physics processes involving photons in the final state. These processes include Higgs boson decays to photon pairs (H → γγ) or graviton decays predicted in some Universal Extra-Dimension models [1, 2]. Recent cross section measurements for di-photon production at hadron colliders were performed by the DØ In this paper, the production cross section of two isolated photons with transverse energies (E T ) above 25 GeV and 22 GeV respectively, in the acceptance of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter (|η| < 1.37 and 1.52 < |η| < 2.37) and with an angular separation -1 - JHEP01(2013)086∆R > 0.4, is measured. The results are obtained using the data collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2011, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity 1 of (4.9 ± 0.2) fb −1 , thus increasing the sample size by more than a factor of 100 compared to the previous measurement. The transverse energy thresholds for the two photons are higher than in the previous measurement (16 GeV).The integrated di-photon production cross section is measured, as well as the differential cross sections as a function of four kinematic variables: the di-photon invariant mass (m γγ ), the di-photon transverse momentum (p T,γγ ), the azimuthal 2 separation between the photons in the laboratory frame (∆φ γγ ), and the cosine of the polar angle of the highest E T photon in the Collins-Soper di-photon rest frame (cos θ * γγ ) [9]. The first distribution is of obvious interest for resonance searches; the second and the third provide important information in the study of higher-order QCD perturbative effects and fragmentation, especially in some specific regions such as the small ∆φ γγ limit; t...