N-type semiconducting hydrogel.

Hydrogels are an attractive category of biointerfacing materials with adjustable mechanical properties, diverse biochemical functions, and good ionic conductivity. Despite these advantages, their application in electronics has been restricted because of their lack of semiconducting properties, and they have traditionally only served as insulators or conductors. We developed single- and multiple-network hydrogels based on a water-soluble n-type semiconducting polymer, endowing conventional hydrogels with semiconducting capabilities. These hydrogels show good electron mobilities and high on/off ratios, enabling the fabrication of complementary logic circuits and signal amplifiers with low power consumption and high gains. We demonstrate that hydrogel electronics with good bioadhesive and biocompatible interface can sense and amplify electrophysiological signals with enhanced signal-to-noise ratios.

Perylenequinone-based "turn on" fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide with high sensitivity in living cells.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a kind of gaseous signal molecule in many physiological processes. In order to detect H2S, a novel "turn on" fluorescent probe 6,12-dihydroxyperylene-1,7-dione (DPD) was designed and synthesized. The probe DPD is fluorescence silence, while the addition of H2S induces an obvious green fluorescence with an obvious color change from dark blue to yellow-green. The probe shows excellent selectivity, fast response (2.5min) and linear curve (0-90µM) in wide effective pH range (4-10). Competition experiments are also revealed in corresponding studies and the detection limit is 3.6µM. The response mechanism is proved to be the reduction of the probe by H2S, which is confirmed by 1H NMR. Furthermore, through the fluorescence turn-on signal toward H2S in Hela cells, probe DPD was successfully applied to monitor H2S in living Hela cells.

Thiophene-based rhodamine as selectivef luorescence probe for Fe(III) and Al(III) in living cells.

The thiophene-modified rhodamine 6G (GYJ) has been synthesized as a novel chemosensor. The sensor has sufficiently high selectivity and sensitivity for the detection of Fe3+ and Al3+ ions (M3+) by fluorescence and ultraviolet spectroscopy with a strong ability for anti-interference performance. The binding ratio of M3+-GYJ complex was determined to be 2:1 according to the Job's plot. The binding constants for Fe3+ and Al3+ were calculated to be 3.91 × 108 and 5.26 × 108 M-2, respectively. All these unique features made it particularly favorable for cellular imaging applications. The obvious fluorescence microscopy experiments demonstrated that the probes could contribute to the detection of Fe3+ and Al3+ in related cells and biological organs with satisfying resolution. Graphical abstract GYJ has high selectivity and sensitivity for the detection of Fe(III) and Al(III) with the binding ratio of 2:1.