By decomposing Zn(OH)4
2- or Zn(NH3)4
2+ precursor in various solvents at suitable reaction
conditions, zinc oxide with a diversity of well-defined morphologies was synthesized.
Flowerlike ZnO built up by nanorods was obtained by treating Zn(OH)4
2- precursor in water
at 180 °C for 13 h. Whereas a replacement of the solvent by n-heptane yields snow flakelike
ZnO. The prismlike and the prickly spherelike ZnO were also prepared, respectively, by
decomposing Zn(NH3)4
2+ or Zn(OH)4
2- in ethanol at 100 °C for 13 h. The rodlike ZnO was
produced at 180 °C under the same condition for preparing prickly spherelike product.
Besides these typical samples, ZnO in other morphologies was studied manipulatively by
changing the reaction conditions of our solution route. Systematical condition-dependent
experiments were compared comprehensively to reveal the formation and detailed growth
process of ZnO nanosized crystallites and aggregates. The experimental results studied by
X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy
indicated that the solvent, precursor, solution basicity, and reaction temperature as well as
time are responsible for the variations of ZnO morphologies.
Image-guided combined chemo-thermal therapy assists in optimizing treatment time, enhancing therapeutic efficiency, and circumventing side effects. In the present study, we developed a chemo-photothermal theranostic platform based on polydopamine (PDA)-coated gold nanorods (GNRs). The PDA coating was thin; however, it significantly suppressed the cytotoxicity of the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide template and allowed high cisplatin loading efficiency, arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide (c(RGDyC)) conjugation, and chelator-free iodine-125 labeling (RGD-IPt-PDA@GNRs). While loaded cisplatin was released in a pH-sensitive manner, labeled I was outstandingly stable under biological conditions. RGD-IPt-PDA@GNRs had a high specificity for αvβ integrin, and consequently, they could selectively accumulate in tumors, as revealed by single photon emission computed tomography/CT imaging, and in target tumor angiogenic vessels, as shown by high-resolution photoacoustic imaging. As RGD-IPt-PDA@GNRs targets tumor angiogenesis, it is a highly potent tumor therapy. Combined chemo-photothermal therapy with probes could thoroughly ablate tumors and inhibit tumor relapse via a synergistic antitumor effect. Our studies demonstrated that RGD-IPt-PDA@GNRs is a robust platform for image-guided, chemo-thermal tumor therapy with outstanding synergistic tumor killing and relapse inhibition effects.
Solar
steam generation is regarded as a perspective technology,
due to its potentials in solar light absorption and photothermal conversion
for seawater desalination and water purification. Although lots of
steam generation systems have been reported to possess high conversion
efficiencies recently, researches of simple, cost-effective, and sustainable
materials still need to be done. Here, inspired by natural young sunflower
heads’ property increasing the temperature of dish-shaped flowers
by tracking the sun, we used 3D-structured carbonized sunflower heads
as an effective solar steam generator. The evaporation rate and efficiency
of these materials under 1 sun (1 kW m–2) are 1.51
kg m–2 h–1 and 100.4%, respectively,
beyond the theoretical limit of 2D materials. This high solar efficiency
surpasses all other biomass-based materials ever reported. It is demonstrated
that such a high capability is mainly attributed to the 3D-structured
top surface, which could reabsorb the lost energy of diffuse reflection
and thermal radiation, as well as provide enlarged water/air interface
for steam escape. 3D-structured carbonized sunflower heads provide
a new method for the future design and fabrication of high-performance
photothermal devices.
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