Integrative transcriptomic and genomic analyses unveil the IFI16 variants and expression as MASLD progression markers.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) encompasses a broad and continuous spectrum of liver diseases ranging from fatty liver to steatohepatitis. The intricate interactions of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors in the development and progression of MASLD remain elusive. Here, we aimed to achieve an integrative understanding of the genomic and transcriptomic alterations throughout the progression of MASLD. APPROACH AND RESULTS: RNA-Seq profiling (n = 146) and whole-exome sequencing (n = 132) of MASLD liver tissue samples identified 3 transcriptomic subtypes (G1-G3) of MASLD, which were characterized by stepwise pathological and molecular progression of the disease. Macrophage-driven inflammatory activities were identified as a key feature for differentiating these subtypes. This subtype-discriminating macrophage interplay was significantly associated with both the expression and genetic variation of the dsDNA sensor IFI16 (rs6940, A>T, T779S), establishing it as a fundamental molecular factor in MASLD progression. The in vitro dsDNA-IFI16 binding experiments and structural modeling revealed that the IFI16 variant exhibited increased stability and stronger dsDNA binding affinity compared to the wild-type. Further downstream investigation suggested that the IFI16 variant exacerbated DNA sensing-mediated inflammatory signals through mitochondrial dysfunction-related signaling of the IFI16-PYCARD-CASP1 pathway. CONCLUSIONS: This study unveils a comprehensive understanding of MASLD progression through transcriptomic classification, highlighting the crucial roles of IFI16 variants. Targeting the IFI16-PYCARD-CASP1 pathway may pave the way for the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics for MASLD.

Two-Dimensional Peptide Assembly via Arene-Perfluoroarene Interactions for Proliferation and Differentiation of Myoblasts.

Supramolecular assembly based on aromatic interactions can provide well-defined nanostructures with an understanding of intermolecular interactions at the molecular level. The peptide assembly via a supramolecular approach can overcome the inherent limitations of bioactive peptides, such as proteolytic degradations and rapid internalizations into the cytosol. Although extensive research has been carried out on supramolecular peptide materials with a two-dimensional (2D) structure, more needs to be reported on biological activity studies using well-defined 2D peptide materials. Physical and chemical properties of the 2D peptide assembly attributed to their large surface area and flexibility can show low cytotoxicity, enhanced molecular loading, and higher bioconjugation efficiency in biological applications. Here, we report supramolecular 2D materials based on the pyrene-grafted amphiphilic peptide, which contains a peptide sequence (Asp-Gly-Glu-Ala; DGEA) that is reported to bind to the integrin α2ß1 receptor in 2D cell membranes. The addition of octafluoronaphthalene (OFN) to the pyrene-grafted peptide could induce a well-ordered 2D assembly by face-centered arene-perfluoroarene stacking. The DGEA-peptide 2D assembly with a flat structure, structural stability against enzymatic degradations, and a larger size can enhance the proliferation and differentiation of muscle cells via continuous interactions with cell membrane receptors integrin α2ß1 showing a low intracellular uptake (15%) compared to that (62%) of the vesicular peptide assembly. These supramolecular approaches via the arene-perfluoroarene interaction provide a strategy to fabricate well-defined 2D peptide materials with an understanding of assembly at the molecular level for the next-generation peptide materials.

Hierarchically Interpenetrated and Reentrant Microcellular Frameworks for Stretchable Lithium Metal Batteries.

With the rapid development of human-friendly wearable devices, energy storage components are required to have skin-like stretchability or free-form to fit closer and more comfortably to the human body. This study introduces a hierarchically interpenetrated reentrant microcellular structure combined with 2D cellular graphene/MXene/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and 3D cellular melamine foam. This composite structure works as a stretchable framework of lithium metal composite electrodes to provide stretchability for lithium metal electrodes, which are promising as next-generation energy storage systems. The interpenetrated but independent cellular structures successfully obtain stable structural deformability from the nonconductive and deformable melamine foam, while at the same time, high electrical conductivity, lithiophilicity, and mechanical stability of the graphene/CNT/MXene network serve as a lithium deposition support during the electrodeposition of lithium. The reentrant structure is fabricated by radial compressing the hierarchical cellular structures to take advantage of the structural stretchability of the accordion-like reentrant frameworks. The lithium-deposited composite electrodes exhibit much lower overpotential during Li stripping and plating than lithium metal foil anodes and show stable electrochemical performances under 30% of mechanical strain. The reentrant microcellular electrodes offer great potential for advanced designs of lithium metal electrodes for stretchable batteries with high energy density.

The feasibility of early response evaluation using superb microvascular imaging one day after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of early Superb microvascular imaging (SMI) for prediction of the effect of HCC treatment after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 96 HCCs (70 patients) treated with TACE between September 2021 and May 2022 were included in this study. SMI, Color Doppler imaging (CDI), and Power Doppler imaging (PDI) were performed the day after TACE for evaluation of intratumoral vascularity of the lesion using an Aplio500 ultrasound scanner (Toshiba Medical Systems, Corporation, Tochigi, Japan). Grading of the vascular presence was performed using a five-point scale. A dynamic CT image taken after 29-42 days was used for comparison of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for detection of tumor vascularity between SMI, CDI, and PDI. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed for assessment of factors affecting intratumoral vascularity. RESULTS: Fifty-eight lesions (60%) showed complete remission (CR) and 38 lesions (40%) showed partial response (PR) or no response at 29-42 days on Multi-detector Computed Tomography (MDCT) after TACE. SMI showed sensitivity of 86.84% for detection of intratumoral flow, which was significantly higher compared with that of CDI (10.53%, p < 0.001) and PDI (36.84%, p < 0.001). The results of multivariate analysis indicated that tumor size was a significant factor in detection of blood flow using the SMI technique. CONCLUSION: Early SMI may be utilized as an adjunctive diagnostic test for evaluation of treated lesions after TACE, particularly when the location of the tumor is in an area of the liver where a suitable sonic window can be identified.

Phase Separation-Controlled Assembly of Hierarchically Porous Aramid Nanofiber Films for High-speed Lithium-Metal Batteries.

The growth of lithium (Li) dendrites reduces the lifespan of Li-metal batteries and causes safety issues. Herein, hierarchically porous aramid nanofiber separators capable of effectively suppressing the Li dendrite growth while maintaining highly stable cycle performances at high charge/discharge rates are reported. A two-step solvent exchange process combined with reprotonation-mediated self-assembly is utilized to control the bimodal porous structure of the separators. In particular, when ethanol and water are used sequentially, aramid nanofibers form hierarchical porous structures containing nanopores in macroporous polymer frameworks to yield a mechanically robust membrane with high porosity of 97% or more. The optimized samples exhibit high ionic conductivities of 1.87-4.04 mS cm-1 and high Li-ion transference numbers of 0.77-0.84 because of the ultrahigh porosity and selective affinity to anions. Li-metal symmetric cells do not show any noticeable presence of dendrites after 100 cycles, and they operate stably for more than 1500 cycles even under extreme conditions with a high current density of >20 mA cm-2 . In addition, the LiFePO4 /Li full cell retains 86.3% of its capacity after 1000 cycles at a charge rate of 30 C.

Electronic effects of nano-confinement in functional organic and inorganic materials for optoelectronics.

When various optically and/or electronically active materials, such as conjugated polymers, perovskites, metals, and metal oxides, are confined at the nanoscale, they can exhibit unique nano-confined behavior that significantly differs from the behavior observed at the macroscale. Although controlled nano-confinement of functional materials can allow modulation of their electronic properties without the aid of any synthetic methodologies or additional chemical treatments, limited assembly approaches for nano-confinement and insufficient analytical tools for electronic characterization remain critical challenges in the development of novel optoelectronic materials and the investigation of their modulated properties. This review describes how the nano-confined features of organic and inorganic materials are related to the control and improvement of their optoelectronic properties. In particular, we focus on various assembly approaches for effective nano-confinement as well as methods for nano-electronic characterization. Then, we briefly present challenges and perspectives on the direction of nano-confinement in terms of the preparation of optoelectronic materials with desired functionalities. Furthermore, we believe that this review can provide a basis for developing and designing next-generation optoelectronics through nano-confinement.

A Layer-by-Layer Assembly Route to Electroplated Fibril-Based 3D Porous Current Collectors for Energy Storage Devices.

Electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility, and large electroactive surface areas are the most important factors in determining the performance of various flexible electrodes in energy storage devices. Herein, a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly-induced metal electrodeposition approach is introduced to prepare a variety of highly porous 3D-current collectors with high flexibility, metallic conductivity, and large surface area. In this study, a few metal nanoparticle (NP) layers are LbL-assembled onto insulating paper for the preparation of conductive paper. Subsequent Ni electroplating of the metal NP-coated substrates reduces the sheet resistance from ≈103 to <0.1 Ω sq-1 while maintaining the porous structure of the pristine paper. Particularly, this approach is completely compatible with commercial electroplating processes, and thus can be directly extended to electroplating applications using a variety of other metals in addition to Ni. After depositing high-energy MnO NPs onto Ni-electroplated papers, the areal capacitance increases from 68 to 811 mF cm-2 as the mass loading of MnO NPs increases from 0.16 to 4.31 mg cm-2 . When metal NPs are periodically LbL-assembled with the MnO NPs, the areal capacitance increases to 1710 mF cm-2 .

Layer-by-Layer Assembled Oxide Nanoparticle Electrodes with High Transparency, Electrical Conductivity, and Electrochemical Activity by Reducing Organic Linker-Induced Oxygen Vacancies.

Solution-processable transparent conducting oxide (TCO) nanoparticle (NP)-based electrodes are limited by their low electrical conductivity, which originates from the low level of oxygen vacancies within NPs and the contact resistance between neighboring NPs. Additionally, these electrodes suffer from the troublesome trade-off between electrical conductivity and optical transmittance and the restricted shape of substrates (i.e., only flat substrates). An oxygen-vacancy-controlled indium tin oxide (ITO) NP-based electrode is introduced using carbon-free molecular linkers with strong chemically reducing properties. Specifically, ITO NPs are layer-by-layer assembled with extremely small hydrazine monohydrate linkers composed of two amine groups, followed by thermal annealing. This approach markedly improves the electrical conductivity of ITO NP-based electrodes by significantly increasing the level of oxygen vacancies and decreasing the interparticle distance (i.e., contact resistance) without sacrificing optical transmittance. The prepared electrodes surpass the optical/electrical performance of TCO NP-based electrodes reported to date. Additionally, the nanostructured ITO NP films can be applied to more complex geometric substrates beyond flat substrates, and furthermore exhibit a prominent electrochemical activity. This approach can provide an important basis for developing a wide range of highly functional transparent conducting electrodes.

Etching-Assisted Crumpled Graphene Wrapped Spiky Iron Oxide Particles for High-Performance Li-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitor.

From graphene oxide wrapped iron oxide particles with etching/reduction process, high-performance anode and cathode materials of lithium-ion hybrid supercapacitors are obtained in the same process with different etching conditions, which consist of partially etched crumpled graphene (CG) wrapped spiky iron oxide particles (CG@SF) for a battery-type anode, and fully etched CG for a capacitive-type cathode. The CG is formed along the shape of spikily etched particles, resulting in high specific surface area and electrical conductivity, thus the CG-based cathode exhibits remarkable capacitive performance of 210 F g-1 and excellent rate capabilities. The CG@SF can also be ideal anode materials owing to spiky and porous morphology of the particles and tightly attached crumpled graphene onto the spiky particles, which provides structural stability and low contact resistance during repetitive lithiation/delithiation processes. The CG@SF anode shows a particularly high capacitive performance of 1420 mAh g-1 after 270 cycles, continuously increases capacity beyond the 270th cycle, and also maintains a high capacity of 170 mAh g-1 at extremely high speeds of 100 C. The full-cell exhibits a higher energy density up to 121 Wh kg-1 and maintains high energy density of 60.1 Wh kg-1 at 18.0 kW kg-1 . This system could thus be a practical energy storage system to fill the gap between batteries and supercapacitors.

Initial phantom study comparing image quality in computed tomography using adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction and new adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction v.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the image quality of a novel advanced iterative reconstruction (IR) method called as "adaptive statistical IR V" (ASIR-V) by comparing the image noise, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and spatial resolution from those of filtered back projection (FBP) and adaptive statistical IR (ASIR) on computed tomography (CT) phantom image. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed CT scans at 5 different tube currents (50, 70, 100, 150, and 200 mA) using 3 types of CT phantoms. Scanned images were subsequently reconstructed in 7 different scan settings, such as FBP, and 3 levels of ASIR and ASIR-V (30%, 50%, and 70%). The image noise was measured in the first study using body phantom. The CNR was measured in the second study using contrast phantom and the spatial resolutions were measured in the third study using a high-resolution phantom. We compared the image noise, CNR, and spatial resolution among the 7 reconstructed image scan settings to determine whether noise reduction, high CNR, and high spatial resolution could be achieved at ASIR-V. RESULTS: At quantitative analysis of the first and second studies, it showed that the images reconstructed using ASIR-V had reduced image noise and improved CNR compared with those of FBP and ASIR (P < 0.001). At qualitative analysis of the third study, it also showed that the images reconstructed using ASIR-V had significantly improved spatial resolution than those of FBP and ASIR (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our phantom studies showed that ASIR-V provides a significant reduction in image noise and a significant improvement in CNR as well as spatial resolution. Therefore, this technique has the potential to reduce the radiation dose further without compromising image quality.

Ion-specific oil repellency of polyelectrolyte multilayers in water: molecular insights into the hydrophilicity of charged surfaces.

Surface wetting on polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs), prepared by alternating deposition of polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDDA) and poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS), was investigated mainly in water-solid-oil systems. The surface-wetting behavior of as-prepared PEMs was well correlated to the molecular structures of the uncompensated ionic groups on the PEMs as revealed by sum frequency generation vibrational and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. The orientation change of the benzenesulfonate groups on the PSS-capped surfaces causes poor water wetting in oil or air and negligible oil wetting in water, while the orientation change of the quaternized pyrrolidine rings on the PDDA-capped surfaces hardly affects their wetting behavior. The underwater oil repellency of PSS-capped PEMs was successfully harnessed to manufacture highly efficient filters for oil-water separation at high flux.

Amphiphilic layer-by-layer assembly overcoming solvent polarity between aqueous and nonpolar media.

We introduce a general and versatile methodology that allows a facile incorporation of the functional components with completely different chemistry of hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties within nanocomposite films, and furthermore combine a number of the distinctive advantages of traditional electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly in aqueous media and covalent LbL assembly in nonpolar media. Our approach, amphiphilic LbL assembly, is based on the high affinity between sulfonic (or phosphonic) acid-functionalized materials in aqueous media and hydrophobic metal oxide (or metal) NPs stabilized by oleic acid (OA) in nonpolar solvent. For demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach, we show that amphiphilic LbL assembly can be easily applied to the preparation of functional colloid materials allowing the reversible phase transfer between aqueous and nonpolar media, and supercapacitor electrodes with high volumetric capacitance (280 F·cm(-3) at 10 mV·s(-1)) using reduced graphene oxide with sulfonic acid moieties and well-defined OA-Fe3O4 NPs.

Transistor memory devices with large memory windows, using multi-stacking of densely packed, hydrophobic charge trapping metal nanoparticle array.

Organic field-effect transistor (OFET) memories have rapidly evolved from low-cost and flexible electronics with relatively low-memory capacities to memory devices that require high-capacity memory such as smart memory cards or solid-state hard drives. Here, we report the high-capacity OFET memories based on the multilayer stacking of densely packed hydrophobic metal NP layers in place of the traditional transistor memory systems based on a single charge trapping layer. We demonstrated that the memory performances of devices could be significantly enhanced by controlling the adsorption isotherm behavior, multilayer stacking structure and hydrophobicity of the metal NPs. For this study, tetraoctylammonium (TOA)-stabilized Au nanoparticles (TOA-Au(NPs)) were consecutively layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled with an amine-functionalized poly(amidoamine) dendrimer (PAD). The formed (PAD/TOA-Au(NP))(n) films were used as a multilayer stacked charge trapping layer at the interface between the tunneling dielectric layer and the SiO2 gate dielectric layer. For a single AuNP layer (i.e. PAD/TOA-Au(NP))1) with a number density of 1.82 × 10(12) cm(-2), the memory window of the OFET memory device was measured to be approximately 97 V. The multilayer stacked OFET memory devices prepared with four Au(NP) layers exhibited excellent programmable memory properties (i.e. a large memory window (ΔV(th)) exceeding 145 V, a fast switching speed (1 µs), a high program/erase (P/E) current ratio (greater than 10(6)) and good electrical reliability) during writing and erasing over a relatively short time scale under an operation voltage of 100 V applied at the gate.

High-Performance Organic Electrochemical Transistors Achieved by Optimizing Structural and Energetic Ordering of Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Polymers.

For optimizing steady-state performance in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), both molecular design and structural alignment approaches must work in tandem to minimize energetic and microstructural disorders in polymeric mixed ionic-electronic conductor films. Herein, a series of poly(diketopyrrolopyrrole)s bearing various lengths of aliphatic-glycol hybrid side chains (PDPP-mEG; m = 2-5) is developed to achieve high-performance p-type OECTs. PDPP-4EG polymer with the optimized length of side chains exhibits excellent crystallinity owing to enhanced lamellar and backbone interactions. Furthermore, the improved structural ordering in PDPP-4EG films significantly decreases trap state density and energetic disorder. Consequently, PDPP-4EG-based OECT devices produce a mobility-volumetric capacitance product ([µC*]) of 702 F V-1 cm-1 s-1 and a hole mobility of 6.49 ± 0.60 cm2 V-1 s-1 . Finally, for achieving the optimal structural ordering along the OECT channel direction, a floating film transfer method is employed to reinforce the unidirectional orientation of polymer chains, leading to a substantially increased figure-of-merit [µC*] to over 800 F V-1 cm-1 s-1 . The research demonstrates the importance of side chain engineering of polymeric mixed ionic-electronic conductors in conjunction with their anisotropic microstructural optimization to maximize OECT characteristics.

Identification of signature gene set as highly accurate determination of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease progression.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is characterized by fat accumulation in the liver. MASLD encompasses both steatosis and MASH. Since MASH can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer, steatosis and MASH must be distinguished during patient treatment. Here, we investigate the genomes, epigenomes, and transcriptomes of MASLD patients to identify signature gene set for more accurate tracking of MASLD progression. METHODS: Biopsy-tissue and blood samples from patients with 134 MASLD, comprising 60 steatosis and 74 MASH patients were performed omics analysis. SVM learning algorithm were used to calculate most predictive features. Linear regression was applied to find signature gene set that distinguish the stage of MASLD and to validate their application into independent cohort of MASLD. RESULTS: After performing WGS, WES, WGBS, and total RNA-seq on 134 biopsy samples from confirmed MASLD patients, we provided 1,955 MASLD-associated features, out of 3,176 somatic variant callings, 58 DMRs, and 1,393 DEGs that track MASLD progression. Then, we used a SVM learning algorithm to analyze the data and select the most predictive features. Using linear regression, we identified a signature gene set capable of differentiating the various stages of MASLD and verified it in different independent cohorts of MASLD and a liver cancer cohort. CONCLUSION: We identified a signature gene set (i.e., CAPG, HYAL3, WIPI1, TREM2, SPP1, and RNASE6) with strong potential as a panel of diagnostic genes of MASLD-associated disease.

Organic field-effect transistor memory devices using discrete ferritin nanoparticle-based gate dielectrics.

Organic field-effect transistor (OFET) memory devices made using highly stable iron-storage protein nanoparticle (NP) multilayers and pentacene semiconductor materials are introduced. These transistor memory devices have nonvolatile memory properties that cause reversible shifts in the threshold voltage (Vth ) as a result of charge trapping and detrapping in the protein NP (i.e., the ferritin NP with a ferrihydrite phosphate core) gate dielectric layers rather than the metallic NP layers employed in conventional OFET memory devices. The protein NP-based OFET memory devices exhibit good programmable memory properties, namely, large memory window ΔVth (greater than 20 V), a fast switching speed (10 µs), high ON/OFF current ratio (above 10(4)), and good electrical reliability. The memory performance of the devices is significantly enhanced by molecular-level manipulation of the protein NP layers, and various biomaterials with heme Fe(III) /Fe(II) redox couples similar to a ferrihydrite phosphate core are also employed as charge storage dielectrics. Furthermore, when these protein NP multilayers are deposited onto poly(ethylene naphthalate) substrates coated with an indium tin oxide gate electrode and a 50-nm-thick high-k Al2 O3 gate dielectric layer, the approach is effectively extended to flexible protein transistor memory devices that have good electrical performance within a range of low operating voltages (<10 V) and reliable mechanical bending stability.

Nonvolatile memory devices prepared from sol-gel derived niobium pentoxide films.

We report on the resistive switching nonvolatile memory (RSNM) properties of niobium pentoxide (Nb(2)O(5)) films prepared using sol-gel chemistry. A sol-gel derived solution of niobium ethoxide, a precursor to Nb(2)O(5), was spin-coated on to a platinum (Pt)-coated silicon substrate, and was then annealed at approximately 620 and 450 °C to form a Nb(2)O(5) film of polycrystalline and amorphous structure, respectively. A top electrode consisting of Ag, W, Au, or Pt was then coated onto the Nb(2)O(5) films to complete the fabrication. After a forming process of limited current compliance up to 10 mA, known as "electroforming", a resistive switching phenomenon, independent of voltage polarity (unipolar switching), was observed at low operating voltages (0.59 ± 0.05 V(RESET) and 1.03 ± 0.06 V(SET)) with a high ON/OFF current ratio above 10(8). The reported approach offers opportunities for preparing Nb(2)O(5)-based resistive switching memory devices from solution process.

Ciliated Foregut Cyst and Accessory Spleen in the Pancreas: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Ciliated foregut cyst is a relatively rare disease; thus, most reports are in the form of case studies. This benign cyst is usually found in the mediastinum and account for approximately 20% of all mediastinal masses. However, it is rarely found in the hepatobiliary and peripancreatic regions. Approximately 20 cases of ciliated foregut cysts involving the pancreas have been reported in the Enlgish literature. Here, we present a case of ciliated foregut cyst that occurred in the tail of the pancreas in a 29-year-old female. The patient's ultrasonography, CT, and MRI findings are presented, along with a review of the literature.

Carbon Nanocluster-Mediated Nanoblending Assembly for Binder-Free Energy Storage Electrodes with High Capacities and Enhanced Charge Transfer Kinetics.

The effective spatial distribution and arrangement of electrochemically active and conductive components within metal oxide nanoparticle (MO NP)-based electrodes significantly impact their energy storage performance. Unfortunately, conventional electrode preparation processes have much difficulty addressing this issue. Herein, this work demonstrates that a unique nanoblending assembly based on favorable and direct interfacial interactions between high-energy MO NPs and interface-modified carbon nanoclusters (CNs) notably enhances the capacities and charge transfer kinetics of binder-free electrodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). For this study, carboxylic acid (COOH)-functionalized carbon nanoclusters (CCNs) are consecutively assembled with bulky ligand-stabilized MO NPs through ligand-exchange-induced multidentate binding between the COOH groups of CCNs and the surface of NPs. This nanoblending assembly homogeneously distributes conductive CCNs within densely packed MO NP arrays without insulating organics (i.e., polymeric binders and/or ligands) and prevents the aggregation/segregation of electrode components, thus markedly reducing contact resistance between neighboring NPs. Furthermore, when these CCN-mediated MO NP electrodes are formed on highly porous fibril-type current collectors (FCCs) for LIB electrodes, they deliver outstanding areal performance, which can be further improved through simple multistacking. The findings provide a basis for better understanding the relationship between interfacial interaction/structures and charge transfer processes and for developing high-performance energy storage electrodes.

A Mediator-Free Multi-Ply Biofuel Cell Using an Interfacial Assembly between Hydrophilic Enzymes and Hydrophobic Conductive Oxide Nanoparticles with Pointed Apexes.

Biofuel cells (BFCs) based on enzymatic electrodes hold great promise as power sources for biomedical devices. However, their practical use is hindered by low electron transfer efficiency and poor operational stability of enzymatic electrodes. Here, a novel mediator-free multi-ply BFC that overcomes these limitations and exhibits both substantially high-power output and long-term operational stability is presented. The approach involves the utilization of interfacial interaction-induced assembly between hydrophilic glucose oxidase (GOx) and hydrophobic conductive indium tin oxide nanoparticles (ITO NPs) with distinctive shapes, along with a multi-ply electrode system. For the preparation of the anode, GOx and oleylamine-stabilized ITO NPs with bipod/tripod type are covalently assembled onto the host fiber electrode composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and gold (Au) NPs. Remarkably, despite the contrasting hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties, this interfacial assembly approach allows for the formation of nanoblended GOx/ITO NP film, enabling efficient electron transfer within the anode. Additionally, the cathode is prepared by sputtering Pt onto the host electrode. Furthermore, the multi-ply fiber electrode system exhibits unprecedented high-power output (≈10.4 mW cm-2 ) and excellent operational stability (2.1 mW cm-2 , ≈49% after 60 days of continuous operation). The approach can provide a basis for the development of high-performance BFCs.