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Hydrogen bond-bridged phosphorene flexible film for photodynamic inhibiting Staphylococcus aureus
Nano Research 2024, 17(6): 5461-5468
Published: 29 February 2024
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Antibiotics are a widely used and effective treatment for bacterial infections. However, bacteria can gradually evolve during infection, leading to developing resistance to antibiotics, which renders previously effective treatments ineffective. Finding a useful and convenient manner to treat bacterial infections is a great challenge. Here, we report a flexible hydrogen-bond-bridged phosphorene film with photodynamic antibacterial properties and excellent mechanical properties, fabricated from electrochemical exfoliation of black phosphorus (BP). When illuminated under 700 nm light, the hydrogen bond-bridged phosphorene flexible film is capable of converting ground-state triplet oxygen (O2) into excited-state singlet oxygen (1O2), destroying the structure of the membrane of Staphylococcus aureus, and eventually leading to bacterial death, via breaking the C=C of unsaturated fatty acids within the bacterial cell membrane after the reaction between 1O2 and unsaturated fatty acids, thus realizing a highly efficient antibacterial approach, which is supported by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. This work establishes an effective phototherapy platform for treating bacterial traumatic infections.

Research Article Issue
Unraveling the role of iron on Ni-Fe alloy nanoparticles during the electrocatalytic ethanol-to-acetate process
Nano Research 2024, 17(4): 2328-2336
Published: 18 August 2023
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The anodic electrooxidation of ethanol to value-added acetate is an excellent example of replacing the oxygen evolution reaction to promote the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction and save energy. Herein, we present a colloidal strategy to produce Ni-Fe bimetallic alloy nanoparticles (NPs) as efficient electrocatalysts for the electrooxidation of ethanol in alkaline media. Ni-Fe alloy NPs deliver a current density of 100 mA·cm−2 in a 1.0 M KOH solution containing 1.0 M ethanol merely at 1.5 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), well above the performance of other electrocatalysts in a similar system. Within continuous 10 h testing at this external potential, this electrode is able to produce an average of 0.49 mmol·cm−2·h−1 of acetate with an ethanol-to-acetate Faradaic efficiency of 80%. A series of spectroscopy techniques are used to probe the electrocatalytic process and analyze the electrolyte. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that the iron in the alloy NPs significantly enhances the electroconductivity and electron transfer, shifts the rate-limiting step, and lowers the energy barrier during the ethanol-to-acetate reaction pathway.

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