Expanding hydrated vanadate with transition metal cations collectively promotes and catalyzes fast and more Zn-ion intercalation in aqueous batteries.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a noninvasive medical technique that has received increasing attention over the last years and been applied for the treatment of certain types of cancer. However, the currently clinically used PDT agents have several limitations, such as low water solubility, poor photostability, and limited selectivity towards cancer cells, aside from having very low two-photon cross-sections around 800 nm, which limits their potential use in TP-PDT. To tackle these drawbacks, three highly positively charged ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes were synthesized. These complexes selectively localize in the lysosomes, an ideal localization for PDT purposes. One of these complexes showed an impressive phototoxicity index upon irradiation at 800 nm in 3D HeLa multicellular tumor spheroids and thus holds great promise for applications in two-photon photodynamic therapy.

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The interlayer modification and the intercalation pseudocapacitance have been combined in vanadium oxide electrode for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Intercalation pseudocapacitive hydrated vanadium oxide Mn 1.4 V 10 O 24 •12H 2 O with defective crystal structure, interlayer water, and large interlayer distance has been prepared by a spontaneous chemical synthesis method. The inserted Mn 2+ forms coordination bonds with the oxygen of the host material and strengthens the interaction between the layers, preventing damage to the structure. Combined with the experimental data and DFT calculation, it is found that Mn 2+ refines the structure stability, adjusts the electronic structure, and improves the conductivity of hydrated vanadium oxide. Also, Mn 2+ changes the migration path of Zn 2+ , reduces the migration barrier, and improves the rate performance. Therefore, Mn 2+ -inserted hydrated vanadium oxide electrode delivers a high specific capacity of 456 mAh g −1 at 0.2 A g -1 , 173 mAh g -1 at 40 A g -1 , and a capacity retention of 80% over 5000 cycles at 10 A g -1 . Furthermore, based on the calculated zinc ion mobility coefficient and Zn(H 2 O) n 2+ diffusion energy barrier, the possible migration behavior of Zn(H 2 O) n 2+ in vanadium oxide electrode has also been speculated, which will provide a new reference for understanding the migration behavior of hydrated zinc-ion.

Co3O4 has received ever-growing interest as an electro-active material for supercapacitors due to its high theoretical specific capacitance (3560 F g−1) and simple synthesis process.