Harnessing J-aggregation for dual-color cellular imaging with chromenoquinoline-benzimidazole dyes.

Fluorescence imaging has revolutionized the visualization of cellular structures and biomolecules due to its non-invasive nature and high sensitivity. Chromenoquinoline (CQ)-based dyes offer promising optical properties, yet their widespread application is hindered by aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). In contrast, J-aggregates, characterized by distinctive photophysical properties, present a solution to ACQ. Here, we introduce a novel platform employing chromenoquinoline-benzimidazole (CQ-BI) dyes, capable of forming J-aggregates, for dual-color cellular imaging. The incorporation of a methyl group into the benzimidazole moiety enhances J-aggregate formation, leading to robust emission in both dilute solutions and aggregated states. Our study demonstrates that methyl moiety-modified CQ-BI derivatives enable simultaneous imaging of mitochondria and lipid droplets in living cells. This work underscores the potential of CQ-BI dyes for dual-channel fluorescence imaging, leveraging the unique properties of J-aggregation.

An Ionic Liquid Supramolecular Gel Electrolyte with Unique Wide Operating Temperature Range Properties for Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Zinc-ion batteries are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage. The side reactions of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and zinc dendrite growth are major challenges for developing high-performance zinc-ion batteries. In this paper, a supramolecular gel electrolyte (BLO-ILZE) was self-assembled in an ionic liquid (EMIMBF4) with zinc tetrafluoroborate (Zn(BF4)2) on the separator in situ to obtain a gel electrolyte used in zinc-ion batteries. BLO-ILZE is demonstrated to significantly enhance conductivity over a broad temperature range between -70 and 100 °C. Interestingly, through testing and fitting, it is found that the supramolecular gel electrolyte satisfies the liquid state law over a wide temperature range, and even achieves high conductivity (2.12 mS cm-1) at -40 °C. It is equivalent to the conductivity of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZnSO4/H2O) at -10 °C, which is 2.33 mS cm-1. Moreover, the supramolecular gel electrolyte can effectively inhibit the HER, thus exhibiting a longer lifetime in Zn/Zn cells for 3470 h at 1 mA cm-2 compared to the aqueous zinc-ion batteries with the Zn(BF4)2 aqueous electrolyte (400 h at 1 mA cm-2). The assembled V2O5/BLO-ILZE/Zn full cells also showed cycling performance, with 5000 cycles at 0.5 mA g-1 at room temperature, a capacity of 98%, and a coulombic efficiency of about 100%.

MOF-modified dendrite-free gel polymer electrolyte for zinc-ion batteries.

Zinc-ion batteries are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage, and gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) play an important role in zinc-ion battery applications. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are characterized by large specific surface areas and ordered pores. This highly ordered microporous structure provides a continuous transport channel for ions, thus realizing the high-speed transmission of ions. In this paper, an MOF-modified dendrite-free GPE was designed. The incorporation of MOF particles not only reduces the crystallinity of the polymer, increases the motility of the molecular chains, and facilitates the transfer of Zn2+, but also attracts anions to reduce polarization during electrochemical reactions. It was shown that this MOF-modified gel polymer electrolyte has a higher ionic conductivity compared to other PVDF-based polymer electrolytes (approximate range of 2 × 10-4 to 3 × 10-3 S cm-1), with a very high conductivity (1.63 mS cm-1) even at -20 °C. The Zn/Zn symmetric cell could maintain operation for more than 3600 h at a current density of 1 mA cm-2, and SEM showed that the MOF-modified gel electrolyte had uniform Zn2+ deposition.

Design, synthesis and application of dual-channel fluorescent probes for ratiometric detection of HClO and H2S based on phenothiazine coumarins.

The ubiquity of diverse material entities in environmental matrices renders the deployment of unifunctional fluorescent indicators inadequate. Consequently, this study introduces a ratiometric dual-emission fluorescent sensor (Probe CP), synthesized by conjugating phenothiazine coumarin to hydroxycoumarin through a piperazine linker for concurrent detection of HClO and H2S. Upon interaction with HClO, the phenothiazine unit's sulfur atom undergoes oxidation to sulfoxide, facilitating a shift from red to green fluorescence in a ratiometric manner. Concurrently, at the opposite terminus of Probe CP, 2,4-dinitroanisole serves as the reactive moiety for H2S recognition; it restores the blue emission characteristic of 7-hydroxycoumarin while maintaining the red fluorescence emanating from phenothiazine coumarin as an internal standard for ratio-based assessment. Exhibiting elevated specificity and sensitivity coupled with minimal detection thresholds (0.0506 µM for HClO and 1.7292 µM for H2S) alongside rapid equilibration periods (3 min for HClO and half an hour for H2S), this sensor was efficaciously employed in cellular environments and within zebrafish models as well as imaging applications pertaining to alcohol-induced hepatic injury in murine subjects.

Panicle-Cloud: An Open and AI-Powered Cloud Computing Platform for Quantifying Rice Panicles from Drone-Collected Imagery to Enable the Classification of Yield Production in Rice.

Rice (Oryza sativa) is an essential stable food for many rice consumption nations in the world and, thus, the importance to improve its yield production under global climate changes. To evaluate different rice varieties' yield performance, key yield-related traits such as panicle number per unit area (PNpM2) are key indicators, which have attracted much attention by many plant research groups. Nevertheless, it is still challenging to conduct large-scale screening of rice panicles to quantify the PNpM2 trait due to complex field conditions, a large variation of rice cultivars, and their panicle morphological features. Here, we present Panicle-Cloud, an open and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cloud computing platform that is capable of quantifying rice panicles from drone-collected imagery. To facilitate the development of AI-powered detection models, we first established an open diverse rice panicle detection dataset that was annotated by a group of rice specialists; then, we integrated several state-of-the-art deep learning models (including a preferred model called Panicle-AI) into the Panicle-Cloud platform, so that nonexpert users could select a pretrained model to detect rice panicles from their own aerial images. We trialed the AI models with images collected at different attitudes and growth stages, through which the right timing and preferred image resolutions for phenotyping rice panicles in the field were identified. Then, we applied the platform in a 2-season rice breeding trial to valid its biological relevance and classified yield production using the platform-derived PNpM2 trait from hundreds of rice varieties. Through correlation analysis between computational analysis and manual scoring, we found that the platform could quantify the PNpM2 trait reliably, based on which yield production was classified with high accuracy. Hence, we trust that our work demonstrates a valuable advance in phenotyping the PNpM2 trait in rice, which provides a useful toolkit to enable rice breeders to screen and select desired rice varieties under field conditions.

Bioimaging of a chromenoquinoline-based ratiometric fluorescent probe for detecting ClO.

Hypochlorous acid (HClO) is a reactive oxygen species and a relatively strong antibacterial substance in the immune defense system. The normal concentration of HClO in the human body is approximately 200 µM, and its high concentration can cause tissue damage and some diseases. Herein, a chromenoquinoline-based ratiometric fluorescent probe was developed to detect and quantify HClO. The developed Probe 1 exhibited the advantages of large Stokes shift (137 nm), high synthetic yield (84.7 %), simple synthesis method, short response time (<4 min), low detection limit (5.1 nM), and low toxicity. The probe was successfully validated in live cells and zebrafish.