Facile "Synergistic Inner-Outer Activation" Strategy for Nano-Engineering of Nature-Skin-Derived Wearable Daytime Radiation Cooling Materials.

Natural skin-derived products, as traditional wearable materials are widely used in people's daily life due to the products' excellent origins. Herein, a versatile daytime-radiation cooling wearable natural skin (RC-skin) consisting of the collagen micro-nano fibers with the on-demand double-layer radiation cooling structure is nano-engineered through the proposed facile "synergistic inner-outer activation" strategy. The bottom layer (inner strategy) of the RC-skin is fabricated by filling the skin with the Mg11 (HPO3 )8 (OH)6 nanoparticles by soaking. The superstratum (outer strategy) is constituted by a composite coating with an irregular microporous structure. The RC-skin harvests the inherent advantages of natural building blocks including sufficient hydrophobicity, excellent mechanical properties, and friction resistance. Owing to the subtle double-layer structure design, the solar reflectance and the average emissivity in the mid-infrared band of RC-skin are ≈92.7% and ≈95%, respectively. Therefore, the RC-skin's temperature in the sub-ambient is reduced by ≈7.5 °C. Various outdoor practical application experiments further substantiate that RC-skin has superior radiation cooling performances. Collectively, RC-skin has broad-application prospects for intelligent wearing, low-carbon travel, building materials, and intelligent thermoelectric power generation, and this study also provides novel strategies for developing natural-skin-derived functional materials.

Engineering Self-Adaptive Multi-Response Thermochromic Hydrogel for Energy-Saving Smart Windows and Wearable Temperature-Sensing.

Buildings account for ≈40% of the total energy consumption. In addition, it is challenging to control the indoor temperature in extreme weather. Therefore, energy-saving smart windows with light regulation have gained increasing attention. However, most emerging base materials for smart windows have disadvantages, including low transparency at low temperatures, ultra-high phase transition temperature, and scarce applications. Herein, a self-adaptive multi-response thermochromic hydrogel (PHC-Gel) with dual temperature and pH response is engineered through "one-pot" integration tactics. The PHC-Gel exhibits excellent mechanical, adhesion, and electrical conductivity properties. Notably, the low critical solubility temperature (LCST) of PHC-Gel can be regulated over a wide temperature range (20-35 °C). The outdoor practical testing reveals that PHC-Gel has excellent light transmittance at low temperatures and radiation cooling performances at high temperatures, indicating that PHC-Gel can be used for developing energy-saving windows. Actually, PHC-Gel-based thermochromic windows show remarkable visible light transparency (Tlum ≈ 95.2%) and solar modulation (△Tsol ≈ 57.2%). Interestingly, PHC-Gel has superior electrical conductivity, suggesting that PHC-Gel can be utilized to fabricate wearable signal-response and temperature sensors. In summary, PHC-Gel has broad application prospects in energy-saving smart windows, smart wearable sensors, temperature monitors, infant temperature detection, and thermal management.

Casein-based hydrogels: Advances and prospects.

Casein-based hydrogels (Casein Gels) possess advantageous properties, including mechanical strength, stability, biocompatibility, and even adhesion, conductivity, sensing capabilities, as well as controlled-releasing behavior of drugs. These features are attributed to their gelation methods and functionalization with various polymers. Casein Gels is an important protein-based material in the food industry, in terms of dairy and functional foods, biological and medicine, in terms of carrier for bioactive and sensitive drugs, wound healing, and flexible sensors and wearable devices. Herein, this review aims to highlight the importance of the features mentioned above via a comprehensive investigation of Casein Gels through multiple directions and dimensional applications. Firstly, the composition, structure, and properties of casein, along with the gelation methods employed to create Casein Gels are elaborated, which serves as a foundation for further exploration. Then, the application progresses of Casein Gels in dairy products, functional foods, medicine, flexible sensors and wearable devices, are thoroughly discussed to provide insights into the diverse fields where Casein Gels have shown promise and utility. Lastly, the existing challenges and future research trends are highlighted from an interdisciplinary perspective. We present the latest research advances of Casein Gels and provide references for the development of multifunctional biomass-based hydrogels.

Biomimetic Exogenous "Tissue Batteries" as Artificial Power Sources for Implantable Bioelectronic Devices Manufacturing.

Implantable bioelectronic devices (IBDs) have gained attention for their capacity to conformably detect physiological and pathological signals and further provide internal therapy. However, traditional power sources integrated into these IBDs possess intricate limitations such as bulkiness, rigidity, and biotoxicity. Recently, artificial "tissue batteries" (ATBs) have diffusely developed as artificial power sources for IBDs manufacturing, enabling comprehensive biological-activity monitoring, diagnosis, and therapy. ATBs are on-demand and designed to accommodate the soft and confining curved placement space of organisms, minimizing interface discrepancies, and providing ample power for clinical applications. This review presents the near-term advancements in ATBs, with a focus on their miniaturization, flexibility, biodegradability, and power density. Furthermore, it delves into material-screening, structural-design, and energy density across three distinct categories of TBs, distinguished by power supply strategies. These types encompass innovative energy storage devices (chemical batteries and supercapacitors), power conversion devices that harness power from human-body (biofuel cells, thermoelectric nanogenerators, bio-potential devices, piezoelectric harvesters, and triboelectric devices), and energy transfer devices that receive and utilize external energy (radiofrequency-ultrasound energy harvesters, ultrasound-induced energy harvesters, and photovoltaic devices). Ultimately, future challenges and prospects emphasize ATBs with the indispensability of bio-safety, flexibility, and high-volume energy density as crucial components in long-term implantable bioelectronic devices.

Development of an activatable Lysosome-targeted fluorescent probe for the detection of endogenous ONOO- levels.

The liver plays a crucial role in several important processes in the human body, including metabolism, detoxification, and immune function. When the liver experiences acute injury, it can cause significant harm and requires prompt detection. Traditional biomarkers lack specificity and cannot detect changes in real-time, making them unsuitable for monitoring pathological processes. Recent studies have shown that acute liver injury (ALI) is closely related to oxidative stress, with peroxynitrite (ONOO-) being a vital byproduct of liver metabolism and become a critical biomarker for detecting liver damage. As a result, this research developed an activatable near-infrared fluorescent probe W-3a that can be used to detect endogenous ONOO- in a mouse model of ALI induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The probe has high selectivity and anti-interference ability, with a reaction time <10 min and a detection limit of 85 nM. It was successfully utilized in detecting endogenous ONOO- in cells and live imaging of ALI mice.

A Review of Recent Progress on Collagen-Based Biomaterials.

Since the 2010s, the demand for healthcare models has exceeded the prevailing resources available due to the rapid increase in the aging population in China. However, a significant gap in development of biomedical materials remains, especially between China and the western developed countries. Collagen is the major protein of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and has been extensively applied in medical fields. Collagen-based biomaterials (CBBs) are used to prepare dressings and dermal substitutes, surgical sutures, plasma substitutes, tissue-engineered scaffolds, and drug delivery systems; this is attributed to their exceptional biocompatibility, biodegradability, hypoimmunogenicity, and coordination between collagen hosts and tissues. This review provides thorough strides in CBB structures, crosslinking and forming technologies, and real-world applications. First, the natural origin and specific structures of animal-derived collagen and non-animal-derived collagen are introduced and compared. Second, crosslinking methods and forming technologies of CBBs across the board are discussed. Third, several examples are considered to demonstrate the practical biomedical use of CBBs and highlight cautionary notes. Finally, the underlying development directions of CBBs from an interdisciplinary perspective are outlined. This review aims to provide comprehensive mechanisms by which collagen can be uniquely and practically used as advanced biomaterial, hence providing options for augmenting its development in China.

Nature-Skin-Derived e-Skin as Versatile "Wound Therapy-Health Monitoring" Bioelectronic Skin-Scaffolds: Skin to Bio-e-Skin.

Electronic skins (e-skins) have the potential to turn into breakthroughs in biomedical applications. Herein, a novel acellular dermal matrix (ADM)-based bioelectronic skin (e-ADM) is used to fabricate versatile "wound therapy-health monitoring" tissue-nanoengineered skin scaffolds via a facile "one-pot" bio-compositing strategy to incorporate the conductive carbon nanotubes and self-assembled micro-copper oxide microspheres with a cicada-wing-like rough surface and nanocone microstructure. The e-ADM exhibits robust tensile strength (22 MPa), flexibility, biodegradability, electroactivity, and antibacterial properties. Interestingly, e-ADM exhibits the pH-responsive ability for intelligent command between sterilization and wound repair . Additionally, e-ADM enables accurate real-time monitoring of human activities, providing a novel flexible e-skin sensor to record injury and motions. In vitro and in vivo experiments show that with electrical stimulation, e-ADM could prominently facilitate cell growth and proliferation and further promote full-thickness skin wound healing, providing a comprehensive therapeutic strategy for smart sensing and tissue repair, guiding the development of high-performance "wound therapy-health monitoring" bioelectronic skin-scaffolds.