A brief review of CDots from the perspective of traditional QDs clarifies the basic concepts, unique characteristics and challenges.

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An amino-functionalized mesoporous bioactive glass (N-MBG) with a high drug loading capacity and longer drug release time was successfully prepared by using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) in a short-time chemical reaction. The drug release performance of an MBG and the N-MBG were studied by loading gentamicin sulfate (GS) in a simulated body fluid solution. The results showed that the surface area of the N-MBG increases to 355.01 mg after amination at 80 °C for 1 h compared with that of the MBG (288.07 mg). Meanwhile, the surface zeta-potential of the N-MBG charges from the original negative charge (-10.06 mV) to the positive charge (+5.30 mV). Furthermore, the GS loading rate of the N-MBG is up to 62.92 ± 2.02%, higher than that of the MBG (48.90 ± 1.71%). In addition, the N-MBG has a longer drug release period and the seven-day accumulative release from the N-MBG reached only 45.9 ± 1.8%, significantly lower than that of the MBG, 60.7 ± 2.3%. In vitro bioactivity tests suggested that the N-MBG exhibited good biological activity. In conclusion, the N-MBG with a higher loading capacity and longer drug release time can serve as a promising candidate as a drug carrier.

Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have shown excellent advantages in photocatalysis owing to the unique optical properties, adjustable bandgap, and high specific surface area. However, the small size of QDs also brought severe charge recombination and particle agglomeration issues. Here, a simple QD-mediated precipitation method was used to create 0D/2D nanocomposites of Zn-AgIn 5 S 8 QDs anchored onto NiS nanosheets. The ultrathin Zn-AgIn 5 S 8 /NiS nanocomposites show obvious photocatalytic hydrogen production capacity due to the abundant active sites and efficient charge transportation in NiS nanosheets. With 7% of NiS, the maximized H 2 evolution rate reached 5.2 mmol g −1 h −1 , 11 times that of pure QDs. The apparent quantum efficiency of H 2 production achieves 14.9% at 420 nm at 5 °C. Interestingly, the maximum activity was achieved with 7% of NiS, higher than the normally used cocatalysts of 1−3%, which may be attributed to the ultrathin nature of the NiS nanosheets that simultaneously promoted the charge separation and catalytic activity but with minimized light-shielding effect. A reasonable mechanism of 0D/2D nanocomposite photocatalyst was proposed. This study supplies a simple QD-mediated precipitation method for the construction of ultrathin 0D/2D nanocomposites and also a novel strategy to improve the efficiency of sulfide photocatalysts.

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A novel vaterite-containing tricalcium silicate (V-CS) was grafted by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), and the amino groups have been successfully fixed on the vaterite-containing tricalcium silicate powder's surface (after grafting the amino group, V-CS was named A-V-CS). The setting behavior, mechanical properties, porosity, weight loss and anti-washout properties of the tricalcium silicate (CS), V-CS and A-V-CS bone cement were systematically investigated. The in vitro induction of hydroxyapatite (HAp) formation of CS, V-CS and A-V-CS bone cement was confirmed by x-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The cell viability, cell proliferation and cell attachment were investigated to assess the effects of bone cement on MC3T3-E1 cells. Results showed that the setting time of A-V-CS bone cement can meet the requirements of a clinical test, with improved anti-washout properties and an appropriate degradation rate. The pH value of the soaking solution was obviously decreased by surface modification. Besides, the morphology and fluorescence photograph results revealed that the A-V-CS bone cement showed an enhanced biocompatibility effect on the proliferation and attachment of MC3T3-E1 cells. The A-V-CS bone cement was expected to be a potential bone-substitute material.

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