Materials Horizons最新文献

{"title":"Oxime hydrogels with ultrafast, pH-independent gelation for robust and adaptive vascular embolization.","authors":"Kai Wang, Chen Liu, Zhanpeng Zhang, Qifeng Guan, Yufan Wang, Jiakun Li, Zhen Pan, Yubo Fan, Sen Hou","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01659f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01659f","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vascular embolization is a key treatment for hemorrhages and tumors, yet conventional agents including coils and microspheres often suffer from incomplete filling, off-target embolism, and heavy dependence on systemic coagulation. While <i>in situ</i>-gelling liquid agents offer conformable filling, achieving robust gelation under high-shear hemodynamics without compromising distal penetration remains a translational hurdle. Here, we report a bioorthogonal oxime-ligation hydrogel engineered for robust and adaptive vascular embolization. This system is composed of aminooxy-functionalized gelatin (Gel-OA) and tetra-armed poly(ethylene glycol) aldehyde (4PEG-CHO), with gelatin-associated nucleophilic groups accelerating oxime-mediated network formation. This hydrogel system achieves rapid, robust gelation intra-arterially, enabling coagulation-independent embolization. Moreover, this design enables ultrafast gelation (within 5 s) even at low polymer concentrations (3.5-6% w/v) and demonstrates pH-independent gelation across a broad range (pH 2-9). Crucially, the low-viscosity precursors support catheter-based separated-stream delivery and deep penetration into the vascular bed before rapidly forming a cohesive network under flow. By varying the polymer concentration, the balance between distal penetration and local network fixation can be modulated. <i>In vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> models confirm precise, coagulation-independent occlusion without premature gelation or ectopic embolism. By penetrating vessels down to approximately 20 µm in diameter, the hydrogel enables distal microvascular embolization alongside stable proximal occlusion. This hydrogel system shows great promise for embolization therapy and other biomedical applications requiring rapid and spatially controlled solidification under dynamic physiological conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149190201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A crosslinking network and nanoconfinement synergistic strategy for achieving white-light excited long-lived room-temperature phosphorescence in transparent aqueous carbon dot solutions.","authors":"Wenjie Xu, Junfei Liao, Wenxuan Sun, Xiujian Zhao, Xiao Gong","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01479h","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01479h","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aqueous phosphorescent carbon dots (CDs) have shown great promise for solution-based practical applications. However, dissolved oxygen in water can severely quench triplet excitons, resulting in unstable phosphorescence emission in aqueous solution. Moreover, most reported aqueous phosphorescent CDs mainly rely on UV excitation and exhibit turbid colloidal solutions. Herein, we for the first time report that white light excitable high-transparency aqueous room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) CD-based nanomaterials (N,P-CDs@SiO₂) can be rationally designed and synthesized <i>via</i> a crosslinking network and nanoconfinement synergistic strategy. Compared with the undoped system, the introduction of phosphorus atoms generated abundant functional groups on the CD surface, significantly enhancing the spin-orbit coupling effect between excited singlet and triplet states and promote intersystem crossing, resulting in an order-of-magnitude increase in phosphorescence lifetime (from 47.87 ms to 629.34 ms) and an approximately 7-fold improvement in phosphorescence quantum yield (from 3.6% to 25.34%) in N,P-CDs@SiO₂ nanomaterials. The three-dimensional siloxane (Si-O-Si) network formed by the crosslinking precursor and silica effectively suppresses the non-radiative decay of triplet excitons, thus stabilizing the phosphorescence emission in aqueous solution. Leveraging their unique advantage of being excitable by visible light, the RTP CD-based nanomaterials have been successfully applied to warning signs that can be activated by automotive headlights and multifunctional RTP hydrogels, demonstrating great application potential in the fields of advanced anti-counterfeiting technology and flexible luminescent materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149190278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"<i>Materials Horizons</i> Emerging Investigator Series: Dr Yunlan (Emma) Zhang, The University of Texas at Austin, United States.","authors":"","doi":"10.1039/d6mh90111e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh90111e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Our Emerging Investigator Series features exceptional work by early-career researchers working in the field of materials science.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149190241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced temperature stability of cross-linked polyethylene dielectrics enabled by a graftable molecule with multiple functional units.","authors":"Ziyang Liu, Zhaotong Meng, Zhaoyang Wang, Yiwei Zhang, Changhai Zhang, Tiandong Zhang, Qingguo Chi, Zhiqiang Wang","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01625a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01625a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The temperature stability of semicrystalline polyolefin dielectrics is intrinsically linked to the interplay between crystalline morphology and charge transport, yet their coordinated regulation remains challenging. Here, a graftable molecule with multiple functional units, PXDP, was purpose-designed to coordinate crystallization and charge transport in XLPE. Its terminal vinyl group provides a grafting function, the urethane units provide hydrogen-bond-mediated ordering and nucleation, and the flexible polycaprolactone-derived segments regulate subsequent crystal growth. PXDP grafting further introduces deep traps that impede carrier migration. At a PXDP loading of 0.3 phr, the representative spherulite diameter decreases from 3.4 to 2.1 µm, accompanied by an increased conduction transition threshold and suppressed space-charge accumulation. XLPE-<i>g</i>-PXDP3 achieves a DC breakdown strength of 324.86 kV mm^-1 at 90 °C and an electric-field distortion rate of 3.60% at 80 °C. This work establishes a multiscale molecular-design framework for coordinating crystallization and charge transport in semicrystalline polyolefin dielectrics, thereby reducing the temperature sensitivity of dielectric performance and highlighting its potential for HVDC submarine cable insulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Photophysical and quenching principles governing advanced materials for fluorescence-based biosensing: mechanisms and analytical performance.","authors":"Georgian Alin Toader, Elena-Alina Chiticaru, Mihaela-Raluca Dobrisan, Vadim V Silberschmidt, Jana Ghitman, Stephan Roche, Stefan G Stanciu, Mariana Ionita","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01172a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01172a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Optical fluorescence biosensing has emerged as one of the most powerful strategies for ultrasensitive molecular detection, driven by rapid advances in fluorophore engineering, nanomaterial design, and signal-transduction architectures. At the core of these technologies lie fundamental excited-state processes, including fluorescence emission, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), photoinduced electron transfer (PET), and intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), that govern the generation, modulation, and detection of optical signals. In this review, we present a photophysics-centered framework for understanding and designing fluorescence-based biosensing processes, systematically correlating excited-state dynamics with analytical sensing performance. We examine a broad range of fluorescent materials, including organic dyes, semiconductor and metal quantum dots, perovskite nanocrystals, transition-metal complexes, lanthanide emitters, and emerging carbon-based nanodots, highlighting how their emission characteristics, quantum yields, photostability, and surface chemistry influence sensing capabilities. Particular emphasis is placed on fluorescence quenching mechanisms and the role of advanced quenching platforms including graphene derivatives, metal oxides, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and hybrid nanostructures in tuning sensitivity, selectivity, and detection limits. Beyond material systems, we discuss recent progress in device integration and analytical methodologies, including microfluidic architectures, smartphone-enabled sensing platforms, nanophotonic metasurfaces, and artificial-intelligence-assisted spectral analysis, which are accelerating the translation of fluorescence biosensing toward portable and high-throughput applications. Despite these advances, challenges such as photobleaching, spectral interference, surface heterogeneity, and manufacturing reproducibility continue to affect analytical reliability. Emerging strategies based on defect-engineered two-dimensional materials, hybrid optical modalities, and machine-learning-driven signal interpretation are therefore highlighted as promising routes toward improved robustness and accuracy. By integrating photophysical principles, nanomaterial design, and analytical performance metrics into a unified perspective, this review provides a conceptual roadmap for the rational development of next-generation fluorescence-based biosensing technologies.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rational design of nanoporous catalysts for sustainable water remediation: mechanisms, challenges, and opportunities.","authors":"Bo Meng, Jianyu Mu, Zelin Li, Yuxin Lu, Pengfei Li, Baoping Xin, Xiang Li, Bo Wang","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01202g","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01202g","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The elimination of refractory organic pollutants and toxic inorganic contaminants from aqueous media remains a critical challenge for practical water remediation. Nanoporous materials have emerged as promising platforms for aqueous environmental catalysis due to their highly tunable pore structures, surface functionalities, and active-site microenvironments. This review systematically summarizes the recent progress in the rational design and application of nanoporous materials for catalytic water treatment. We first provide an overview of mainstream nanoporous material systems, along with state-of-the-art synthetic strategies and advanced characterization techniques for structural and interfacial property analysis. The correlations between key material characteristics-including pore architecture, surface functionalization, and active site distribution-and core catalytic behaviors (<i>i.e.</i>, pollutant adsorption, mass transfer, and interfacial catalytic conversion) are elaborated, with a specific focus on photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and Fenton-like reaction systems. This article further highlights current advances in structure-performance regulation and identifies persistent research bottlenecks, including the lack of quantitative structure-performance relationships, insufficient catalytic stability in complex water matrices, and the challenges of integrating well-defined active sites into nanoporous frameworks. This review aims to offer fundamental insights and rational guidelines for the targeted design and optimization of high-performance nanoporous catalysts.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integration of nanozymes and metastructures on implants for confined sono-enhanced catalytic therapy.","authors":"Ji Tan, Songsong Wang, Yibo Zeng, Yisi Liu, Shiwei Guan, Shuhan Chen, Xingdan Liu, Zhichao Ma, Qiu Yin, Haifeng Zhang, Xuanyong Liu","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01578f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01578f","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nanocatalytic medicine offers an innovative paradigm for disease treatment, yet systemic administration of nanomaterials raises critical biosafety concerns that restrict its application potential. While implant catalytic medicine represents a promising alternative, insufficient surface-active sites weaken its catalytic therapeutic performance. Here, we propose a universal confined sono-enhanced catalytic strategy realized by integrating nanozymes and metastructures into implants. The porous acoustic metastructure afforded abundant nanozyme immobilization sites and captured ultrasound to generate turbulent flow for fast mass transfer and thermal energy to activate the reaction system, synergistically improving the nanozyme's catalytic activity. As a proof of concept, the biocompatible FeO_<i>x</i> nanozyme was modified onto the acoustic metastructured TiO₂ coating on a titanium implant to achieve enhanced catalytic therapy against infection/tumor. In the infection/tumor microenvironments, the FeO_<i>x</i> nanozyme could catalyze H₂O₂ to ˙OH for bacteria/tumor killing, which was significantly amplified by the synergistic acoustic-thermal and acoustic streaming effects of TiO₂ metastructures activated by ultrasound. Meanwhile, this hierarchical micro-nanostructured coating exhibited good biocompatibility and promoted osteogenesis. Importantly, this strategy can be extended to other material systems to achieve sono-enhanced catalytic therapies and repairs for different diseases. The concept of confined sono-enhanced catalytic therapy based on nanozyme-decorated metastructures may make a difference in implant catalytic medicine and smart-responsive biomaterials.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A modified chitosan-based inflammation-regulating nanoplatform as a noninvasive carrier for macromolecular ophthalmic drug delivery toward synergistic AMD treatment.","authors":"Haibin Zhao, Qiang Zhang, Jingjing Shen, Yuan Fang, Xinying Lv, Yu Miao, Baoye Ma, Siyu Shuai, Zhuyu Hou, Linfu Chen, Yang Yang, Qian Chen","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01360k","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01360k","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a prevalent cause of irreversible vision loss in the elderly worldwide. Current standard treatment relies on repeated intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor A (anti-VEGFA), which is associated with invasiveness, poor patient compliance, and variable therapeutic responses. To address this, we developed an ocular-penetrating carrier for topical anti-VEGFA delivery by conjugating eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to chitosan (CS), yielding EPA-functionalized chitosan (CS-EPA). Interestingly, CS-EPA retains the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of EPA while enhancing ocular penetration by promoting E-cad redistribution and transient tight-junction modulation. It self-assembles with therapeutic proteins through electrostatic interactions, forming stable nanocomplexes, which can efficiently reach the posterior segment of mice after non-invasive eye drop administration. More importantly, in a laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) mouse model, CS-EPA/anti-VEGFA eye drops inhibited neovascularization as effectively as intravitreal anti-VEGFA injection. Beyond VEGFA neutralization, CS-EPA directly suppressed the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway, reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine production, and alleviated oxidative stress, thereby disrupting the inflammation-angiogenesis cycle driving AMD progression. Therefore, the dual-action CS-EPA, with enhanced ocular penetration and intrinsic anti-inflammatory activity, provides a noninvasive, patient-compliant alternative for AMD treatment and holds promise for treating other posterior segment diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multiscale dissipation enhances fatigue resistance of rubber nanocomposites with dynamic covalent bonds.","authors":"Dichao Ning, Mengyao Yang, Zihan Zhang, Chenyu Jin, Qian Shi","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01948j","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01948j","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rubber nanocomposites are used in high-volume applications such as tires and dampers. Many of these applications require low fatigue damage to ensure structural durability and a high fatigue threshold to resist fatigue crack growth under cyclic deformation. However, particle reinforcements are known to increase the mechanical properties, but the fatigue damage is not suppressed, and the fatigue threshold remains difficult to improve. Traditional particle-reinforced composites are limited by the challenge between static mechanical properties, fatigue damage and fatigue threshold. To overcome this challenge, here, we propose an anti-fatigue strategy by integrating dynamic covalent bonds and thiol-modified nanoparticles into the rubber. The synergistic effect of dynamic covalent bonds within the matrix, at the matrix-particle interface and between particles enables energy dissipation across multiple scales. This multiscale dissipation not only suppresses fatigue damage, but also enhances the fatigue threshold and mechanical properties. We demonstrate that this rubber nanocomposite achieves a fatigue threshold of 727 J m^-2, representing a 341% increase over that of traditional materials, while also exhibiting enhanced mechanical properties. It shows a stress decay of only 6% and the damage resistance is improved by 42%. Our findings provide deep insights into the anti-fatigue designs for recyclable nanocomposites. This strategy offers a pathway for developing durable, sustainable, and high-strength composites and is expected to extend the life of existing structures.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149163492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spider-silk-inspired dynamic hard-soft ionogels enabled by solvation-contrast-guided phase separation.","authors":"Wenhao Li, Jiaqi Zhao, Jiecai Tang, Honglin Wu, Ruoxuan Xu, Yuanzi Ouyang, Wei Cui, Rong Ran","doi":"10.1039/d6mh01579d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh01579d","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stretchable ionogels are promising epidermal biointerfaces, yet integrating mechanical robustness with efficient viscoelastic dissipation remains challenging. Inspired by the hard-soft hierarchical architecture of spider silk, we develop a phase-separated ionogel by copolymerizing <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-dimethylacrylamide (DMAA) and acryloxyethyl trimethylammonium chloride (DAC) in an ionic-liquid matrix. Differences in polymer/ionic-liquid affinity and local ionic association are proposed to promote nanoscale heterogeneity, as supported by AFM, USAXS, spectroscopy, and molecular simulations. The resulting dynamically reconfigurable ionic associations enable effective load bearing and energy dissipation. The optimized PDCI-25 ionogel combines high strength, toughness, rapid stress relaxation, broadband damping, strong adhesion, and crack resistance. When integrated with conductive fabric, PDCI-25 functions as a hybrid epidermal electrode with lower low-frequency skin-electrode impedance and reduced motion artifacts compared with commercial Ag/AgCl electrodes. It consequently enables stable electromyography and electrocardiography recording under dynamic conditions, demonstrating its potential as a mechanically adaptive and motion-tolerant epidermal biointerface.</p>","PeriodicalId":87,"journal":{"name":"Materials Horizons","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149163348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}