Chemically modified graphene (CMG) nanoplatelets have shown great promise in various applications due to their electrical properties and high surface area. Chemical doping is one of the most effective methods to tune the electronic properties of graphene materials. In this work, novel B-doped nanoplatelets (borane-reduced graphene oxide, B-rG-O) were produced on a large scale via the reduction of graphene oxide by a borane-tetrahydrofuran adduct under reflux, and their use for supercapacitor electrodes was studied. This is the first report on the production of B-doped graphene nanoplatelets from a solution process and on the use of B-doped graphene materials in supercapacitors. The B-rG-O had a high specific surface area of 466 m(2)/g and showed excellent supercapacitor performance including a high specific capacitance of 200 F/g in aqueous electrolyte as well as superior surface area-normalized capacitance to typical carbon-based supercapacitor materials and good stability after 4500 cycles. Two- and three-electrode cell measurements showed that energy storage in the B-rG-O supercapacitors was contributed by ion adsorption on the surface of the nanoplatelets in addition to electrochemical redox reactions.
The diagnosis of bacterial infections remains a major challenge in medicine. Although numerous contrast agents have been developed to image bacteria, their clinical impact has been minimal because they are unable to detect small numbers of bacteria in vivo, and cannot distinguish infections from other pathologies such as cancer and inflammation. Here, we present a family of contrast agents, termed maltodextrin-based imaging probes (MDPs), which can detect bacteria in vivo with a sensitivity two orders of magnitude higher than previously reported, and can detect bacteria using a bacteria-specific mechanism that is independent of host response and secondary pathologies. MDPs are composed of a fluorescent dye conjugated to maltohexaose, and are rapidly internalized through the bacteria-specific maltodextrin transport pathway, endowing the MDPs with a unique combination of high sensitivity and specificity for bacteria. Here, we show that MDPs selectively accumulate within bacteria at millimolar concentrations, and are a thousand-fold more specific for bacteria than mammalian cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that MDPs can image as few as 10(5) colony-forming units in vivo and can discriminate between active bacteria and inflammation induced by either lipopolysaccharides or metabolically inactive bacteria.
A new positron emission tomography (PET) tracer, composed of 18F labeled maltohexaose (MH18F), can image bacteria in vivo with a sensitivity and specificity that is orders of magnitude better than fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG). MH18F can detect early stage infections composed of as few as 105 E.coli colony forming units (CFUs), and can identify drug resistance in bacteria in vivo. MH18F has the potential to improve the diagnosis of bacterial infections given its unique combination of high specificity and sensitivity for bacteria.
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