In article number 1603711, Marcel Karperien, Jeroen Leijten, and co-workers present the first microfluidic approach that enables long-term 3D single cell culture by centering cells in microgels in a facile, modular, and widely applicable manner. A typical cell microencapsulation event using the delayed crosslinking approach enables a cell to be positioned at the outer edge of a droplet, and by delaying on-chip crosslinking, the cell is allowed to move towards the center of the droplet. Subsequent crosslinking finally results in an individual cell being encapsulated in the microgel's center.

In article number 1604045, by Ming Zhang, Guozhong Cao, and co-workers, a phase-separation strategy is developed to conveniently synthesize porous carbon nanotubes, which showed excellent rate capacity and cycling performance for sodium-ion storage. This strategy may provide a route for the synthesis and application of core@shell or hollow materials in fields of energy and catalyst.

The nonlinear magnetic response of SPIONs to magnetic fields induces harmonic signals that contain information of these nanoparticles. In article number 1604135, Jian-Ping Wang and co-workers, report using the phase lag and harmonic ratios in the SPIONs to analyze the saturation magnetization, average hydrodynamic size, the dominating relaxation processes of SPIONs, and the distinction between single- and multi-core particles.

Efficient carbon dioxide (CO₂) hydrogenation catalyst: Zigzag Pt–Co nanowires with Pt-rich surface, abundant steps/edges, and high percentages of Pt⁰ atoms on surface are demonstrated as highly efficient catalysts for CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol, in which the appropriate carboxylate intermediates are formed in the methanol production.

GaAs on Si nanoheteroepitaxy based on a novel Si nanotip wafer is presented. These structures present a curved and smooth morphology composed of {0nm}- and {nnm}-facets. The early stage of the growth reveals a preferential nucleation on the {0nm} micro and nanofacets, which may have an impact on future electronic and photonic devices.

Advanced surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors composed of arrays of porous block copolymer nanorods functionalized with gold nanoparticles are developed for SERS analysis of analytes contained in small pieces of tissue, liquid drops or thin liquid films. The sensor is based on capillarity-assisted preconcentration allowing fast, sensitive SERS detection.

Cobalt phosphide double-shelled nanocages that can uniformly absorb light covering the full solar spectrum are synthesized and used for photothermal therapy as well as self-powered photoelectrochemical sensing.

Porous carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are obtained by removing MoO₂ nanoparticles from MoO₂@C core@shell nanofibers which are synthesized by phase-segregation via a single-needle electrospinning method. As anodes for sodium-ion batteries, the porous CNT electrode displays excellent rate performance and cycling stability, which exhibites 110 mA h g⁻¹ after 1200 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹.

A search-coil-based method is successfully applied to characterize intrinsic properties in superparamagnetic nanoparticles such as saturation magnetization, average hydrodynamic size, dominating relaxation process, and to distinguish between single- and multicore beads. This system and method can be used as building blocks in nanoparticle characterization devices.

Single-cell-laden microgels support physiological 3D culture conditions while enabling straightforward handling and high-resolution readouts of individual cells. However, state-of-the-art encapsulation strategies suffer from cell escape due to off-center cell encapsulation. Here, the first microfluidic approach that enables long-term 3D single cell culture by centering cells in microgels in a facile, modular, and widely applicable manner is presented.

The (110) plane of CH₃NH₃PbI₃ crystallites adjacent to the amino-acid-modified TiO₂ surface tends to align in the direciton perpendicular to the TiO₂ surface. Such crystalline orientation significantly enhances charge transfer efficiency at the TiO₂/CH₃NH₃PbI₃ interface and greatly improves the photovotaic performance of perovskite solar cells.

A new porous, anionic Tb-metal–organic-framework, China Three Gorges University (CTGU-1), can serve as a turn-on sensor for detection of Eu³⁺ and Dy³⁺, with different detection limits. Additionally, spontaneous in situ reduction and immobilization of ion-exchanged Ag(I) to Ag nanoparticles in the anionic framework result in an Ag@CTGU-1 composite, which can remarkably catalyze the reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Vertically oriented graphene nanoribbon fiber (VGR) with highly exposed surface area displays high length/volumetric specific capacitances, excellent rate capability, and outstanding cycling performance (≈96% capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles). Moreover, the assembled VGR//VGR/MnO₂ all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor exhibits high volumetric energy density of 5.7 mWh cm⁻³ and excellent cycling stability.

A novel structure ultraviolet photodetector based on a ZnO film is prepared by incorporating a BiOCl nanostructure into the film, which has high responsivity and short decay time. The BiOCl nanostructure not only provides electrons to enhance the photocurrent, but also forms barriers to accelerate the attenuation process of the current after the UV light is turned off.

Ionic imbalance across cell membranes affects the energy barrier of lipid flip-flop, imposing a directionality on the translocation of lipids between bilayer leaflets. The asymmetry indicates that lipid accumulates at the cytoplasmic side of the cell membrane under physiological conditions. The linear reduction of the energy barrier of lipid flip-flop explains the observed increase in conductance of bilayers under external voltage.

The cathodoluminescence (CL) emission properties of nanodiamonds containing nitrogen-vacancy centers are investigated. Coregistered images of nanodiamonds obtained by secondary electron imaging, atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence, and cathodoluminescence, enable precise characterization of CL intensity as a function of nanodiamond size and doping concentration, for applications in correlative microscopy.

A 1D, multichannel, porous binary-phase anatase-TiO₂–rutile-TiO₂ composite with oxygen-deficient and high grain-boundary density (a-TiO_2−x/r-TiO_2−x) are fabricated via electrospinning and subsequent vacuum treatment. The introduction of numerous oxygen vacancies and the high density of grain boundaries between the anatase- and rutile-phase TiO₂ are favorable for enhanced electrochemical performance with excellent long cycling stability and superior rate performance.

Hierarchical TiO₂/SnO₂ hollow spheres coated with graphitized carbon (HTSO/GC-HSs) are synthesized based on a self-templated method. The as-prepared mesoporous HTSO/GC-HSs present an approximate yolk-double–shell structure, with high specific area and small nanocrystals of TiO₂ and SnO₂, and thus exhibit superior electrochemical reactivity and stability when used as anode materials for Li-ion batteries.

Dynamic disulfide bonds are introduced into the chemical structure of molecular motors and the surface of solid substrates so that molecular motors can reversibly and selectively assemble on solid surfaces regardless of their chemical compositions and microstructures, while maintaining photochemistry isomerization behavior. Due to the reversible photoinduced exchange reaction, molecular motors can be reformatted and reprogramed repeatedly on solid surfaces.

Single Fe atom electrocatalyst, derived from biomass resource of porphyra as the biocarbon source and hemin as the natural iron source, presents atomic dispersion of Fe atoms in the N-doped hierarchically porous carbon. The as-prepared electrocatalyst exhibits much higher catalytic activity, durability, and methanol-tolerance than the commercial Pt/C catalyst for oxygen reduction.

Proteinosome membrane fusion: Controlled membrane fusion of proteinosome-based protocells is achieved via a hydrogel-mediated process involving dynamic covalent binding, self-healing, and membrane reconfiguration at the contact interface, with a concomitant transportation and redistribution of entrapped payloads such as DNA and dextran.