HIGHLIGHTS • A comprehensive review on the recent development of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials for bulk or thin-film thermoelectric materials, as well as composite filler, has been extensively presented. • Development of micro-device platform and its application to study the inherent thermoelectric properties of individual single-and few-layer 2D nanomaterials.

Atomic intercalation is an effective way to enhance the nonlinear optical properties of α-MoO3.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a heterogeneous cancer required combination therapy, such as photothermal therapy and chemotherapy. In recent years, cancer immunotherapies are rapidly evolving and are some of the most promising avenues to approach malignancies. Thus, the combination of the traditional therapies and immunotherapy in one platform may improve the efficacy for HCC treatment. Results In this work, we have prepared a black phosphorus (BP)-Au-thiosugar nanosheets (BATNS), in which Au-thiosugar coating and functionalization improved the stability of both black phosphorus nanosheets (BPNS) and gold ions in different simulated physiological environments. The compression of the BATNS band gap can convert more photon energy to heat generation compared with BPNS, resulting in higher photothermal conversion efficiency. The in vitro and in vivo results also revealed a stronger reduction on the hepatocellular carcinoma of mice and prolonged survival of disease models compared with BPNS. More importantly, BATNS showed an additional immune effect by increasing local NK cell infiltration but not T cell on the liver cancer treatment, and this immune effect was caused by the thermal effect of BATNS photothermal treatment. Conclusions The novel BATNS could improve the stability of BPNS and simultaneously combine the cancer thermotherapy and immunotherapy leaded by local NK cell infiltration, resulting in a better therapeutic efficacy on hepatocellular carcinoma. This work also provided a new path to design BP-based materials for biomedical applications. Graphical Abstract

Background: At present, bone union delay or failure remains challenging for clinicians. It has been reported that adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) offer a promising way to promote bone fracture healing. In recent years, nanomaterials have been applied in regenerative medicine. This study aimed to investigate whether ADMSCs combined with platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) could further improve fracture healing on the basis of ADMSCs.Methods: ADMSCs were co-cultured with PtNPs in vitro to investigate the effect of PtNPs on the differentiation of ADMSCs. Twenty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups (with five rats in each group). The left tibias of all rats were fractured. Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), PtNPs, ADMSC, and ADMSC mixed with PtNPs were then injected into the fracture sites based on the group classifications. The fracture was monitored by X-ray immediately after the fracture and on days 14 and 28 post-fracture. The tibias of the rats were subsequently harvested after the last X-ray and evaluated by micro computed tomography (micro-CT), histological analysis, and immunohistochemical detection.Results: PtNPs significantly enhanced the osteogenic differentiation of ADMSCs in vitro. On days 14 and 28 post-fracture, the radiographic score of the ADMSC + PtNPs group was higher than that of the ADMSC group, the score of the ADMSC group was higher than that of the PtNPs and control groups, and there was no significant difference between the PtNPs and control groups. Micro-CT confirmed that combined ADMSCs with PtNPs were more effective than using ADMSCs alone in promoting fracture healing. The histological and immunohistochemical results further supported this conclusion.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that PtNPs could promote osteogenic differentiation of ADMSC in vitro. ADMSCs combined with PtNPs could accelerate fracture healing further in vivo and are a promising a potential method for the treatment of fracture healing.

All-optical wavelength conversion technology based on four-wave mixing (FWM) effect is a promising development need of the modern high-speed optical signal processing system. In this work, we report on the polarization insensitive four-wave mixing based on graphene for all optical wavelength conversion. To overcome the polarization sensitivity of FWM, a dual-pump configuration was proposed based on the combination of graphene and the optical fibers. Our experimental results illustrate that by using the dual pump configuration, the FWM-based wavelength conversion efficiency, can be enhanced by graphene with about 8 dB when the state of polarization of the two pumps are parallel. This proposed all-optical wavelength converter based on graphene may provide a new approach for the next generation optical communications and signal processing.