Organophosphorus nerve agents are a kind of chemical weapon with great killing power, which paralyze the central nervous system of human body by destroying the neurotransmitter acetylcholinesterase. A very small dose can cause death. Therefore, it is of great significance for the rapid and simple detection of organophosphorus nerve agents. Fluorescence chemical sensing has the advantages of high sensitivity, good selectivity, and short response time. In recent years, the detection of organophosphorus nerve agents and their simulants using fluorescent sensing methods has attracted increasing attention. In this paper, the principle of fluorescence sensing is briefly introduced, and various new fluorescent materials and methods developed by researchers at home and abroad in recent years for the detection of organophosphorus nerve agents and simulants are reviewed. The prospect of the application of fluorescence sensing methods in the detection of organophosphorus nerve agents is also discussed.

Photodynamic therapy has become a new method to treat cancer because of noninvasive, controllable features and less drug resistance compared with chemotherapy. The photo-sensitization pathway involves the photoactivation of molecular oxygen by photosensitizer. However, due to the hypoxic environment of solid tumors, the photodynamic therapeutic effect of traditional photosensitizers is severely suppressed. Metallic Ir(Ⅲ) complexes exhibit excellent photo-physical and photo-chemical properties which make them ideal next-generation photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. It has been reported that some novel Ir(Ⅲ) complexes show excellent photodynamic therapy effect towards hypoxic tumors. In this review, we focus on the recent studies on the application of Ir(Ⅲ) complexes to photodynamic therapy under hypoxia. Furthermore, the applications of Ir(Ⅲ) complexes containing nanocomposite system for hypoxic photodynamic therapy are also summarized, with the hope to provide guidance for the development of novel and efficient photosensitizers for hypoxic tumor.

Pathogenic bacteria contamination brings severe safety problems to human health. Fast, accurate and sensitive detection of pathogenic bacteria is an important way to reduce pathogenic bacteria pollution. Traditional methods for detecting pathogenic bacteria have the disadvantages of being time-consuming and laborious. Fluorescent nanomaterials have the advantages of high fluorescence intensity, good stability and excellent biocompatibility, which provide a new research approach for the application of fluorescent nanomaterials as biosensors for pathogenic bacteria detection. This review summarizes the applications of various fluorescent nanomaterials in pathogenic bacteria detection in recent years, including semiconductor quantum dots, fluorescent metal nanoclusters, carbon nanomaterials, upconversion nanoparticles and fluorescent silicon nanoparticles. It mainly focuses on the analysis and comparison of the optical properties and detection mechanisms of different types of fluorescent nanomaterials. The bioconjugation of nanomaterials plays an important role in the whole process of pathogenic bacteria detection, which is closely related to the detection specificity. This article introduces the characteristics of different recognition elements, including antibodies, aptamers, phages and antibiotics. The conjunction methods between different recognition elements and nanomaterials are also discussed. Finally, the advantages and limitations of different nanomaterials for detecting pathogenic bacteria are reviewed and the development prospects in practical application and research priorities in the future are addressed.

Formaldehyde (FA) is not only used as a basic chemical for industrial products, but also a necessary metabolite for regulating human physiological activities. However, excessive intake from the external environment or unbalanced metabolism homeostasis of the internal environment would cause critical diseases to the human body such as organ cancers, Alzheimer?s disease and so on. The high sensitivity and selectivity with visualization and in-situ detection by means of small-molecular fluorescent probe, provides superiority for identification of FA and biological image in vitro and in vivo, and a new detection method for the trace detection of FA in real products as well. In the past five years, fluorescent probes of FA have developed rapidly. This article mainly reviews the research progress of fluorescent probes for FA recognition and applications, including the general reaction mechanisms and the applications in organisms and samples with commercial products. It is concluded that the small molecular fluorescent probes should be continuously improved in structures and optical characteristics to not only assist long-term research in biomedicine, but also lead to the achievable goals of fast (in situ) detecting FA in practice from actual products.

Silicon carbide aerogels have excellent properties such as high temperature stability, low thermal expansion coefficient, good thermal shock resistance, oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance, etc. They have great application potential in the fields of high temperature thermal insulation, electromagnetic wave adsorbing, filtration and adsorption under high temperature and high corrosive environment. However, the controllable preparation of bulk silicon carbide aerogels has always been a major challenge. As a new kind of aerogels, the preparation process of bulk SiC aerogels is more complicated than that of traditional oxide and carbon aerogels. In recent years, the research on preparation and application of SiC aerogels has entered a new stage. Many new strategies for preparing SiC aerogels have been developed, and many important progress has been made in the research of SiC aerogels in the fields of heat insulation and electromagnetic wave adsorbing. In this paper, the research progress on preparation and application of monolithic silicon carbide aerogels is reviewed. Firstly, the advantages and disadvantages of various preparation technologies are analyzed and summarized, including carbon thermal reduction method with organic/SiO₂ composite aerogels, cracking method with pre-ceramic polymer, chemical vapor deposition method, high-temperature vapor-phase silicon cementation method and self-assembly method of SiC nanowire. Then the application research progress of SiC aerogel in high temperature insulation and electromagnetic wave adsorbing are introduced in detail. Finally, the development trend of SiC aerogel in the future is prospected.

Superhydrophobic surface has broad applications in daily life and industries owing to its unique wettability. However, the micro-nano structures and low surface energy substance of surface are vulnerable to mechanical damage and chemical erosion, often prone to lose their superhydrophobicity. It is of great practical significance to construct durable superhydrophobic surface through morphologic design and performance optimization for its commercialization. In this review, based on the surface wettability model, including classical theory, metastable theory and contact line theory, the development history of superhydrophobic theoretical model is first reviewed, as well as their key guiding roles in the design of superhydrophobic durability. Then, the preparation strategies for durable superhydrophobic surface, such as micro-nano structure design, adhesive + coating, armor protection, self-healing, air cushion replenishment or replacement, are summarized. And the advantages and limitations of each strategy are reviewed. In addition, according to mechanical and chemical stability, the evaluation methods of superhydrophobic durability are illustrated. Finally, the problems and prospects of durable superhydrophobic surface are summarized for the future research of durable superhydrophobic coating.

Supramolecular gels as important soft materials are formed by self-assembly of organic molecules under the driving force of non-covalent interactions, which can gel organic solvents or water. These materials possess both liquid and solid properties. This kind of materials with the advantages of stimulus response behavior and easy modification is widely used in many fields such as chemistry, biology, medicine and energy. Compared with the traditional small-molecule probes, supramolecular gels have many advantages for their application as chemical sensors. For example, the internal three-dimensional network structure of supramolecular gel material and its large contact area facilitate the rapid infiltration of analytes, and the change of gel state can be used as the output signal in the detection process. In addition, the xerogel film material also has a three-dimensional network structure, which also shows excellent detection performance in the detection of gaseous analytes. This work focuses on the application of supramolecular gels in the detection of gaseous acids and organic amines, as well as the designs and detection mechanisms of supramolecular gels, so as to provide reference for the construction of new supramolecular gels for the detection of gaseous acids and organic amines. Finally, the problems and prospects in the application of supramolecular gels are summarized and prospected.

The importance of chirality and chiral compounds has been widely recognized. The proportion of chiral drugs increases continuously and rapidly. However, some chiral drugs are still marketed and used in racemic form. How to appropriately and effectively use racemic drugs accordingly becomes a subject of high importance in both academic research and practical applications. ‘Enantioselective release' strategy combines two separate processes in a single one, that is, ‘chiral separation' and ‘controlled release', providing alternative routes for the use of racemic drugs. Up to date, striking advancements have been made in this research area. The review paper summarizes the representative advancements made in recent years. Herein, according to the major materials constituting the chiral releasing carriers, chiral drug releasing systems are classified into three groups: (1) organic materials (hydrogels, particles, etc.), (2) inorganic materials and (3) molecularly imprinted materials based releasing systems. The investigations dealing with enantioselective release and enantioselectivity effects are anticipated to enhance our understanding about the mysterious chiral world.

Formaldehyde is the main indoor pollutant, which has teratogenicity and carcinogenicity. Catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde has high conversion efficiency without secondary pollution, therefore related research has been increasingly concerned. This paper introduces noble metal and non-noble metal catalysts in detail. The effects of active components, support and catalyst promoters on the physicochemical properties and reaction performance of the catalyst are discussed. The influence factors of catalytic reactions, such as preparation methods, and the level of water content in the reactants are discussed. Besides, the main factors of catalyst deactivation are analyzed. The results show that the number of reactive oxygen species, surface hydroxyl groups, oxygen vacancies, as well as the adsorption, desorption and storage capacity of the reactants are the key factors affecting the catalytic activity. Noble metal catalysts, especially Pt catalysts, have better catalytic performance and can fully convert formaldehyde at lower temperature. Non-noble metal catalysts have variable valence states and abundant raw material resources, is cheap and easy to obtain, and could have enough catalytic activity through reasonable design of catalyst, therefore its application prospect is broad.

There are many factors affecting energy consumption and hydrogen evolution efficiency in the process of hydrogen evolution by water electrolysis, among which interface resistance and bubble coverage are two of the most significant factors. It's found that the interface resistance and bubble coverage of the catalyst can be effectively reduced by strengthening external field-effect in the process of water electrolysis. For instance, thermal field can introduce energy into the charge transfer during the reaction process, thereby reducing the charge transfer resistance and overpotential. Besides, it is able to directly adjust the electronic structure of the catalyst or induce the redistribution of electrolyte ions by using the electric field, which promotes the interfacial charge transfer. What's more, polarization of water molecules can be induced in a optical field. Therefore, the introduction of thermal field, magnetic field, ultrasonic field, electric field, high-gravity field and optical field into the electrolytic cell are effective strategies to reduce energy consumption and hence improve the efficiency of hydrogen evolution. In recent years, although some works focusing on the field-effect of water electrolysis are reported, there are few reviews to systematically introduce the field-effect in water electrolysis. In this paper, the research progress of field-effect in hydrogen evolution reaction in recent years is reviewed. Moreover, this paper introduces the basic principles of various field-effect of water electrolysis, analyzes the effects of various fields through experimental cases, and summarizes the challenges as well as prospect of field enhanced water electrolysis hydrogen evolution.

To meet the challenge of energy shortage and climate change, it is required to build the new renewable energy based structure and gradually abandon the conventional fossil fuel based energy structure. Hydrogen energy has attracted more and more attention, due to its high energy density, large calorific value, abundant resource and zero pollution. LiBH₄, which has been acknowledged as one of the most promising hydrogen storage alternatives for onboard energy carrier applications, is still not qualified for the industrialization, though it has been studied for years. Herein, a state-of-the-art review on the modification of stable thermodynamics and sluggish kinetics of hydrogen storage in LiBH₄, aiming to providing reference and solutions for its promotion and application. Multiple main-stream techniques along with their latest efforts have been discussed, including mechanical milling activation, nanoscaffold confinement, catalyst modification, ions substitution, reactant destabilization and a novel process termed as high-energy ball milling with in-situ aerosol spraying (BMAS). Remarkable, BMAS is the technology of proven ability to overcome the kinetic barriers for thermodynamically favorable systems like LiBH₄ + MgH₂ mixture and provide thermodynamic driving force to enhance hydrogen release at a lower temperature.

The blossoming of mobile electronic devices, plug-in electric vehicles and stationary energy storage have triggered the urgent demand for the exploration of the energy storage systems with high energy density and long cycle life. Lithium-sulfur battery is regarded as one of the most promising candidates of the next-generation rechargeable batteries, since the active substance sulfur is low cost and possesses high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh·kg^-1. However, the practical applications of lithium-sulfur battery are hindered by a series of severe problems, which are caused by the insulative nature of sulfur and its discharge products, and the dissolution and shuttling of polysulfides. Carbonaceous materials are generally used as sulfur hosts to improve the conductivity of the cathode. Regrettably, due to the weak interaction between non-polar carbonaceous materials and polar polysulfides, the carbonaceous materials can inhibit polysulfides only by limited physical adsorption and restrictions, thus the dramatic capacity decline derived from the notorious “shuttling effect” remains insufficiently resolved. Introducing polar or chemical adsorption sites to carbonaceous materials by element doping, such as N, S, Co and B doping, can greatly enhance the adsorption capacity of carbonaceous materials to polysulfides, so as to sufficiently improve the cycling stability of the cell. Moreover, element doping may improve the electronic conductivity of carbonaceous materials by changing their electronic structure, thus effectively increasing the utilization ratio of the active materials. This article reviews the elements doping commonly applied in carbonaceous materials such as porous carbon, carbon nanotubes and graphene for lithium-sulfur batteries, wherein single-element doping, dual-element doping, and multi-element doping are introduced separately. The effects of different doping elements on performance of carbonaceous materials are analyzed. And the development direction of element-doped carbonaceous materials in lithium-sulfur batteries are prospected.

All-inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals have extremely broad application prospects in light emitting diode, solar cell and biomarker fields due to their excellent optoelectronic properties, i.e. high fluorescence quantum yield, high color purity and wide color gamut. However, the unsatisfactory stability caused by the ionic characteristics has seriously hindered their further application. Although many strategies, i.e. metal ions doping, surface passivation and coating, have been developed to improve stability, how to maintain stability when exposed to air, water, and polar solvents is still an urgent issue. In addition, anion exchange in perovskite may limit its application in multicolor luminescence display field. It is an ideal and effective strategy to improve the stability of perovskite nanocrystals by surface coating to maintain the high fluorescence quantum efficiency and avoid anion exchange, which has been receiving considerable attention of researchers. In this review, we summarize the root of instability for lead halide perovskite nanocrystals, and introduce the current research progress of surface coating strategy for all-inorganic lead halide perovskite in detail, as well as its applications in the lighting and display field. Finally, the challenges concerning the development of the lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are outlined and the main future research directions are concluded.

Heavy metals (HMs), as one of the important toxic components in atmospheric particulate matters (PMs), are closely related to human health. The health risk of HMs in particulate matters highly depends on their species and bioavailability. Heavy metal speciation analysis in PMs is significant for the study of air pollution environmental health. Based on related researches in recent years, this paper summarizes and discusses about HMs species in atmospheric particulate matters from four key aspects: (1) Synthetic body fluids and sequential extraction procedures (such as BCR, Tessier's, Chester) have been widely used to extract operationally-defined species of HMs; (2) Chromatography-mass spectrometry technology and new functional materials have been applied for specific-selective analysis, and in-situ speciation and atomic cluster structures of HMs can be characterized by XAFS (X-ray absorption fine structure); (3) Particle size distribution of HMs species in PMs is complicated, which is affected by many factors and tends to be concentrated in fine particles; (4) Spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of HMs in PMs are highly regional. Social development, industrial, and climate are the main factors. Health risks at summer and hazy days are relatively higher.

With the rapid development of China's economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the problem about organic pollutions in natural water bodies has become more and more serious. The advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) based on free radical reaction can efficiently degrade the non-biodegradable organic pollutants remaining in water environment. Under the action of the catalyst, the advanced oxidation processes can effectively generate the strong oxidizing free radicals to degrade organic pollutants. Spinel ferrite (MFe₂O₄(M=Zn, Ni, Co, Cu, Mn)) is widely used as a catalyst to promote the generation of free radicals in the advanced oxidation processes, and at the same time, its strong magnetism and high stability ensure that it is easy to recycle by an external magnetic field and further reused. This article mainly reviews the research progress of spinel ferrite-based heterogeneous Fenton-like technology, photocatalytic technology and persulfate advanced oxidation technology in organic wastewater treatment, and focuses on the catalytic degradation mechanism of organic pollutants in water bodies by the different ferrite magnetic nanomaterials in the above three advanced oxidation technologies, and the ways to enhance catalytic performances of ferrite magnetic catalysts. Finally, we point out some problems about the application of spinel ferrite in advanced oxidation processes, and the future research directions of spinel ferrite-based advanced oxidation processes are also prospected.

Owing to their great theoretical energy density (2600 Wh·kg^-1), lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are one of the most promising candidates of the next generation energy storage devices. Moreover, the high theoretical specific capacity (1675 mAh·g^-1), good eco-friendliness, abundant natural resource and low cost of cathode sulfur are also good for the cheap cost and low environmental pollution of Li-S batteries. However, the practical applications of Li-S batteries are severely impeded by several key challenges, such as the low practical specific capacities, low coulomb efficiencies and fast capacity decay, which resulting from the poor electronic conductivity of sulfur and final products Li₂S₂/Li₂S, the shuttle effects of lithium polysulfides and the growth of lithium dendrite during the electrochemical cycling. It is noted that the modification of the polyolefin separators is one of the effective methods to obviously improve the performances of Li-S batteries. In particular, various carbons and their composites are widely used materials for separator modification because of their unique properties, also, many advancements have been achieved. Herein, the research progresses of the various carbons and their composites for separator modification are reviewed, which will provide guidance for the future research on improving the performance of Li-S batteries by separator modification method.