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Flexible membrane consisting of ultralong VO@conducting polypyrrole (VO@PPy) core-shell nanowires is prepared by a facile in situ interfacial synthesis approach. The VO is for the first time demonstrated to show versatile function of reactive template to initiate the uniform and conformal polymerization of PPy nanocoating without the need for extra oxidants. The freestanding PPy-encapsulated VO nanowire membrane is of great benefit in achieving strong electrochemical harvest by increasing electrical conductivity, shortening ion/electron transport distance, and enlarging electrode/electrolyte contact area. When evaluated as binder- and additive-free supercapacitor electrodes, the VO@PPy core-shell hybrid delivers a significantly enhanced specific capacitance of 334 F g along with superior rate capability and improved cycling stability. The present work would provide a simple yet powerful interfacial strategy for elaborate constructing VO/conducting polymers toward various energy-storage technologies.

There is concern regarding neurotoxicity induced by the use of local anesthetics. A previous study showed that an overload of intracellular calcium is involved in the neurotoxic effect of some anesthetics. T-type calcium channels, which lower the threshold of action potentials, can regulate the influx of calcium ions. We hypothesized that T-type calcium channels are involved in bupivacaine-induced neurotoxicity. In this study, we first investigated the effects of different concentrations of bupivacaine on SH-SY5Y cell viability, and established a cell injury model with 1 mM bupivacaine. The cell viability of SH-SY5Y cells was measured following treatment with 1 mM bupivacaine and/or different dosages (10, 50, or 100 µM) of NNC 55-0396 dihydrochloride, an antagonist of T-type calcium channels for 24 h. In addition, we monitored the release of lactate dehydrogenase, cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i), cell apoptosis and caspase-3 expression. SH-SY5Y cells pretreated with different dosages (10, 50, or 100 µM) of NNC 55-0396 dihydrochloride improved cell viability, reduced lactate dehydrogenase release, inhibited apoptosis, and reduced caspase-3 expression following bupivacaine exposure. However, the protective effect of NNC 55-0396 dihydrochloride plateaued. Overall, our results suggest that T-type calcium channels may be involved in bupivacaine neurotoxicity. However, identification of the specific subtype of T calcium channels involved requires further investigation.

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Self-powered photodetectors (SPPDs) have attracted lots of attention due to their various advantages including no external power sources, high-sensitivity, fast response speed, and so on. This study reports the fabrication and characterization results of CsPbBr 3 microcrystals (MCs) grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, and the SPPDs have been fabricated on the basis of the CsPbBr 3 MCs layer with the sandwich structure of GaN/CsPbBr 3 MCs/ZnO. Such designed SPPD shows the detectivity (D*) of 10 14 Jones, on/off ratio of up to 10 5 , peak responsivity (R) of 89.5 mA/W, and enhanced stability at the incident wavelength of 540 nm. The photodetector enables the fast photoresponse speed of 100 μs rise time and 140 μs decay time. The performances of the SPPD are comparable to the best ones ever reported for CsPbBr 3 based PDs but do not need external power supplies, which mainly benefit from the low trap density, long carrier diffusion of high quality CsPbBr 3 MCs film, and the built-in electric fields in the sandwich structure of GaN/CsPbBr 3 /ZnO layers.

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Three-dimensional (3D) microfibrillar network represents an important structural design for various natural tissues and synthetic aerogels. Despite extensive efforts, achieving high mechanical properties for synthetic 3D microfibrillar networks remains challenging. Here, we report ultrastrong polymeric aerogels involving self-assembled 3D networks of aramid nanofiber composites. The interactions between the nanoscale constituents lead to assembled networks with high nodal connectivity and strong crosslinking between fibrils. As revealed by theoretical simulations of 3D networks, these features at fibrillar joints may lead to an enhancement of macroscopic mechanical properties by orders of magnitude even with a constant level of solid content. Indeed, the polymeric aerogels achieved both high specific tensile modulus of ~625.3 MPa cm3 g−1 and fracture energy of ~4700 J m−2, which are advantageous for diverse structural applications. Furthermore, their simple processing techniques allow fabrication into various functional devices, such as wearable electronics, thermal stealth, and filtration membranes. The mechanistic insights and manufacturability provided by these robust microfibrillar aerogels may create further opportunities for materials design and technological innovation.