Chemotherapy is the main method used for cancer treatment. However, most chemotherapeutic drugs show low selectivity towards tumor cells. When killing tumor cells, chemotherapeutic drugs can also damage normal tissue cells and induce a series of side effects and toxic reactions, such as gastrointestinal reactions, calvities and so on. An effective way to reduce the adverse drug reactions is to construct targeted delivery systems based on the microenvironment properties of tumor tissue. Porous carbon nanomaterials (PCN), with excellent properties such as good structural stability, pores, and easily modified surface, are promising candidate to be used for such strategy. In this paper, the construction and application of the PCN-based targeted antitumor drugs delivery system were reviewed; the structural properties, the design philosophy of PCN suitable for drug loading were summarized; the effective strategies to improve drug loading on PCN for combined drug delivery were discussed both theoretically and experimentally. The mechanism and applications of PCN for tumor microenvironment based targeted delivery system were analyzed from the perspectives of endogenous sensitive stimulations (such as acidity, redox potential and specific enzyme), exogenous sensitive stimulations (such as light and magnetic) and multiple sensitive stimulations (such as double sensitive stimulations, including acidity/redox potential, acidity/magnetic and magnetic/light, and three sensitive stimulation, including acidity/redox potential/light). The biocompatibility and biodegradability of PCN used as anti-tumor drug delivery system was discussed, and the possible solutions were analyzed. The prospects of the application of PCN to be used in tumor drugs were discussed at the end of this review. This review provides theoretical basis and examples towards design and synthesis of porous carbon (PC) materials based anti-tumor drug delivery system, which may help the research and development of targeted and controllable tumor treatment.

Graphene, as a representative of two-dimensional (2D) materials, has excellent intrinsic properties such as high specific surface area and conductivity, but its macroscopic bulk behaves poorly owing to severe face-to-face restacking and hand-in-hand contact resistance. Three-dimensional (3D) design of 2D materials can deliver the excellent nanoscaled properties to the macroscopic world, to realize the high surface area, conductivity, interconnected pores, and good mechanics of the bulks. It is necessary and highlighted to develop the porous monolith of 2D materials for applications as electrodes, adsorbents, elastomers, etc. The blowing route has the advantages of low cost and simple processing, which has been accentually developed to produce the foams of 2D materials for several years. This article introduces the principle of the blowing method, summarizing the recent examples of blown foams of graphene, boron nitride nanosheet, and others. The scientific front about foams of 2D materials is discussed, and the broad applications of the new materials are prospected in energy, environment, etc.

Boron nitride aerogel is a kind of new nanomaterials with three-dimensional porous network structure, which takes solid as the framework and gas as the dispersion medium. It has high specific surface area, high porosity, low density and other excellent properties. In addition, compared with graphene aerogels, it exhibits better insulation, oxidation resistance, thermal stability and chemical stability. These outstanding properties make it promising application in the fields of gas adsorption, catalysis, sewage purification, thermal insulation/conduction. This article systematically reviewed the preparation methods of boron nitride aerogels including the hard template method, soft template method, low-dimensional boron nitride assembly method, and template-free method in the light of domestic and foreign research status. Moreover, the important applications of boron nitride aerogels in key fields are summarized, and the future development direction is prospected.

Porous microsphere cell microcarrier with macroporous structure can not only amplify cells in vitro, but also serve as cell delivery tools to deliver cells to damaged tissues by injection. Bioglass (BG) is an inorganic material with excellent biological activity, however, it is difficult to directly prepare microcarriers with macroporous structure. Therefore, in this study, a BG/poly-lactic acid (PLA) porous microspheres was prepared by double emulsion method. The morphology and structure of the microsphere were characterized by SEM, and the load of BG in the microsphere was characterized by thermo gravimetric analysis and its ion release was detected by ICP. Cell proliferation experiments showed that cells could adhere and grow on the surface and inside of the microspheres. The results show that the microsphere with interconnected open-pore microstructure is suit for cell adhesion and proliferation. Bioglass can promote cell proliferation in the microspheres and the obtained BG/PLA composite microsphere has great potential applications in tissue engineering.

Membrane-based gas separation is one of the critical technologies in filtration and separation industry, since it is more efficient, energy-saving and environmentally friendly compared with traditional separation technologies. Novel inorganic two-dimensional materials (2DMs) for gas separation are expected to achieve both high selectivity and high permeability, breaking through the trade-off between selectivity and permeability of commercial polymer membranes. This review begins with a brief explanation of gas separation mechanisms for membranes. Afterwards, special attention will be given to the recent advances in novel inorganic 2DMs including graphene and their derivatives, TMDs and MXene, about their design, fabrication and application in gas separation. The gas separation characteristics of different materials, their challenges and directions for future research are summarized. Moreover, the application of other novel inorganic 2DMs, such as LDH, h-BN and mica nanosheets in gas separation technology is also discussed. Finally, the perspectives and challenges for future research of novel inorganic 2DMs in gas separation field are outlined.

Porous bioceramic scaffolds, which possess attractive biocompatibility, ability to guide tissue regeneration and porous surface morphologies and channels beneficial to ingrowth of new born tissues, have seized increasing attentions and been widely applied in the field of hard tissue restoration. Whereas, the weak osteoinductive activity, monotonous biological function and poor mechanical property have restrained the therapeutic efficacy and wider application of bioceramic scaffolds. In view of this, we intended to introduce the existing modification methods of bioceramic scaffolds, including the surface modification with functional coating, construction of surface micro-/nano- structures, functional element doping and enhancement of mechanical property, along with the state of the research progresses in the improvement of biocompatibility, bone defect restoration, drug delivery, tumor therapy, and antibacterial capacity of multifunctional bioceramic scaffolds. In addition, potential research directions and applications of functionally modified bioceramic scaffolds are prospected to provide references for the related exploration afterwards.

Two-dimensional materials have attracted broad interest because of their wide variety of properties. They can be used as photocatalysts and electrocatalysts due to their extremely high specific surface area, and have great potential application in the field of environment and renewable energy. This review focuses on the structure and properties of common two-dimensional materials such as 2D carbides and nitrides (MXenes), g-C₃N₄ and black phosphorus (BP). Furthermore, the latest research on the modification of two-dimensional materials in the area of photocatalysis and electrocatalysis are discussed and commented. Finally, research prospects for two-dimensional materials in the future are predicted.

Solid-state cooling technology based on the electrocaloric (EC) effect is attracting increasing attention as an important alternative for traditional cooling systems because of its advantages of high efficiency, environmental friendliness, light weight, low cost, and easy miniaturization. Ferroelectric materials are suitable candidates for EC refrigeration due to their large polarization and entropy change through applying or removing an external electric field. Recently, study on the EC effect of lead-free bulk ceramics has become one of hot topics on ferroelectric community due to the requirements of sustainable development. In this review, we firstly introduce the significant history events in EC research and the basic principles of EC refrigeration. Then, design strategy for achieving a large EC temperature change near room temperature and a wide using range is summarized. Subsequently, we systematically review the research status of EC effect in BaTiO₃-based, Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃-based and K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃-based lead-free bulk ceramics and discuss their advantages as well as challenges. Finally, we propose some prospects for the future work on EC effect in lead-free bulk ceramics.

Carbon nanospheres enriched with α-MoC_1-x nanocrystalline (α-MoC_1-x/CNS) were synthesized by self-assembly and applied as a mediator for the surface of commercial polypropylene (PP) separator. Compared with pristin PP separator, the cycling stability and rate performance of the lithium-sulfur batteries with the modified α-MoC_1-x/CNS-PP separator are significantly improved and the battery with α-MoC_1-x/CNS-PP separator exhibits an initial discharge capacity of 1129.7 mAh/g at 0.5C and retains 855.5 mAh/g after 100 cycles with above 98% Coulombic efficiency. Remarkably, the capacity loss rate is only 7.7% after 48 h static storage. Combined with the morphology and XPS analysis of α-MoC_1-x/CNS, it is found that the designed α-MoC_1-x/CNS-PP separator prevents the migration of lithium polysulfide to the anode during the process of charge and discharge in lithium sulfur batteries. Formations of Mo-S bonds, thiosulfate and polythionate are attributed to the contact between lithium polysulfide and α-MoC_1-x/CNS, which further restrains active material in cathode region and improves the performance of lithium- sulfur batteries consequently.

Bacteria-related diseases, environmental pollution and other issues have attracted enough attention. Meanwhile, with the use of antibiotics, bacteria evolved strong drug resistance forcing people to develop new antibacterial agents urgently. Natural enzymes such as lysozyme and myeloperoxidase have significant antibacterial ability. However, natural enzymes own limitations such as short shelf life and high production costs. Besides, they are difficult in applying to large-scale production. Therefore, people are seeking alternatives to natural enzymes. Nanozymes are a new generation of artificial enzymes which have unique physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials and enzyme-like catalytic activity. Because of structural stability and low production cost, they are widely explored. This article reviews the antimicrobial mechanism and the recent progress of nanozymes in antibacterial research, and, finally, gives some prospects for future research.

Electrochromic devices (ECDs) are the intelligent devices change color by applying electric potential, with the advantages of wide working temperature, high optical contrast, good reversible bistability, low driving voltage, and low energy consumption, which show great application potential in the field of dynamic smart windows, full-color electronic screens, anti-glare goggles, adaptive dual-stealth camouflage, and energy storage status visualization. Cathodically coloring material tungsten oxide and anodically coloring material nickel oxide are two widely studied inorganic electrochromic materials, and complementary electrochromic devices based on WO₃ and NiO films have high commercial values in the application of large scale smart windows. Improving the performance of the complementary ECDs such as optical modulation range, response rate, cycle life and weather fastness has attracted much attention. This review focuses on the structural composition of complementary electrochromic devices and summarizes the recent research progress of the electrochromic full devices based on WO₃ and NiO. Firstly, the electrochromic mechanism and decay mechanism of WO₃ and NiO films are clarified, the effects and latest research progress of four strategies for film performance optimization that include optimizing preparation conditions, element doping modification, designing nanostructure, and introducing composite materials are discussed in detail. Secondly, according to the composition and structure design of the device, the classification system of the complementary electrochromic full device is introduced, and the influence of selection for each component material and the device structure on device overall performance are summarized. Finally, the application of the electrochromic device prospects and development trends are forecasted.