One of the factors necessary for the survivability and growth of microorganisms are iron ions. For the uptake of this vital metal ion from the surrounding environment, microorganisms have evolved a system which employs low-molecular mass, high-affinity chelators called siderophores. Bacteria and fungi rely on this system especially during infections, and siderophores are considered as a major virulence

In recent years, coordination polymers (CPs) have emerged as versatile scaffolding materials built from various metal ions and organic ligands, and these materials are highly investigated for their use in numerous applications. In particular, coordination polymers including lanthanide ions (Ln) are very promising because these ions transfer some interesting luminescence features to the frameworks,

Food contamination may occur at all stages from farm to fork, and these contaminants are characterized by wide variety, trace amounts, and are susceptible to interference from complex food matrix during detection. The development of reliable food safety sensors is required for accurate, timely and convenient monitoring of food contaminants. Importantly, the detection performance of sensors largely

Recent strides in drug delivery have aimed at precise control over therapeutic agent release and targeting. Liposomes, lipid-based vesicles, have stood out for their capacity to encapsulate diverse agents. While their structural features offer biocompatibility and stability, the inability to provide on-demand drug release limits their efficacy. Addressing these limitations, photoactivable liposomes

Metal-organic cages (MOCs) are a class of widely used nanosize supramolecular architectures with specific geometric shapes and confined cavities, constructed from the coordination interactions between metal ions and organic ligands, and have aroused wide research interest in various fields including catalysis, molecular sensing, adsorption separation and biomedical applications in the past few decades

As discrete anionic metal–oxygen clusters, polyoxometalates (POMs) demonstrate immense advantages as photochromic materials owing to their good redox properties and photo-activity, as well as excellent stability. However, single inorganic POM materials exhibit a poor coloration rate. The increasing interest in this field focuses on realizing the design of diversified POM-based crystalline hybrid photochromic

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, even though various anticancer strategies have been developed. The rapid development of nanotechnologies has enhanced the performance and efficacy of conventional anticancer strategies. However, the poor controllability of most nanoagents in terms of characteristics such as size, composition, and surface chemistry presents a formidable challenge

The structural complexity of the brain hinders the traditional treatment of brain diseases from achieving desirable outcomes, which urges the research and development of multiple alternatives. Rapid advances in materials science and nanomedicine have brought endless possibilities for the cure of brain diseases. The ideal depth of tissue penetration, precise and controllable therapeutic dose, and noninvasive

Current mid-wave infrared (MWIR) photodetectors are generally too expensive to be used in civil scenarios. HgTe colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are among the most promising alternatives to MWIR photodetection due to their broad and tunable spectra. In recent decades, chemical synthesis of HgTe CQDs and HgTe CQD-based photodetectors have been extensively studied. However, there are still many challenges

Theranostic platforms have emerged as advanced systems integrating diagnostic and therapeutic agents to enable personalized medicine tailored to the specific characteristics of each patient's disease. However, conventional theranostic strategies face challenges in achieving high specificity and sensitivity for diagnosis and therapy. This necessitates the development of novel platforms to improve diagnostic

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) perform vital functions in numerous life processes and significantly affect physiological activities in different organ systems in the human body. However, excessive ROS accumulation is harmful and causes oxidative damage or ROS-related diseases. Recently, various natural enzyme-like nanomaterials with ROS-scavenging activities have been designed. These nanomaterials can

Spin transition (ST) materials, exhibiting spin state conversions by external stimuli, have been studied for over a half-century and have been continuing research interests owing to their promising applications in switching and memory devices. In manipulating the spin transition and related properties, cooperative interactions are deemed high responsibility for the abrupt STs with a wide room-temperature

Smart polymers have received much attention due to their different responses to the induced stimuli. Polymers with fluorescent properties are also appealing for their potential applications in fluorescence chemosensors, optoelectronics, molecular thermometers, organic light-emitting diodes, molecular imaging, storage data security, drug delivery carriers, and encryption. Fluorescence resonance energy

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have unprecedentedly rapid emerged as a promising next-generation clean-energy-harvesting technology. Compelling market advantages over existing photovoltaic devices include material properties and low-temperature processes. Throughout the development of PSCs, the electron-transporting materials (ETMs) as an integral part, has played a distinctive role in photon-to-electron

Single metal-atoms have emerged as a new frontier in electrocatalysis to drive sustainable electrochemical energy storage. However, the unique properties of maximum atom utilization, excellent selectivity, and enhanced catalytic activity realized with the designed single-atom still fall short of the challenges. The lack of densely populated active sites, the evolution of clusters due to weak metal–support

Hypoxia is a hallmark of solid tumors and it significantly contributes to the development of key biological features of tumors, including the microenvironment, migration, invasion, metastasis, pathological angiogenesis, drug resistance, immunosuppression, and poor prognosis. Hypoxia hampers the efficacy of current anti-tumor approaches, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and photodynamic

The removal of organic pollutants from water is a major challenge due to the ineffectiveness of traditional methods and the high level of hazard associated with these pollutants. As a result, researchers have proposed various approaches to address this issue, with particular attention being paid to the use of different energy sources for the synergistic degradation of organic pollutants. Metal-organic

Among the carbon nanomaterials family, the fluorescent carbon dot has emerged as a significant member among the novel types of nanomaterials, and many researchers have introduced studies on its properties and potential applications. Carbon dots (CDs) have numerous outstanding characteristics, such as remarkable photostability, negligible cytotoxicity, exceptional biocompatibility, effortless surface

Specific recognition sites exist in cells to bring about encapsulation and consequent enhancements in stability and selectivity. Methods to create nanofunctionalized cells have been developed to heighten the stability of biological cells or endow them with functionality required for special applications. A variety of specific recognition-based strategies have been developed for precisely designing