Chao Zhu

• zhejiang hangzhou at Zhejiang Agricultural University

Electrocatalytic gas-evolving reactions often result in bubble-covered surfaces, impeding the mass transfer to active sites. Such an issue will be worsened in practical high-current-density conditions and can cause sudden cell failure. Herein, we develop an on-chip microcell-based total-internal-reflection-fluorescence-microscopy to enable operando...

SMAD3, a protein-coding gene, assumes a pivotal role within the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signaling pathway. Notably, aberrant SMAD3 expression has been linked to various malignancies. Nevertheless, an extensive examination of the comprehensive pan-cancer impact on SMAD3’s diagnostic, prognostic, and immunological predictive utility h...

Supervillin (SVIL), the biggest member of the villin/gelsolin superfamily, has recently been reported to promote the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by stimulating epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, little is known about the roles of SVIL in the migration of colorectal cancer cells. Here, we investigated the effects of SVIL on...

The deposition of a metal oxide layer with good dielectric properties is a critical step in fabricating the gate dielectric of transistors based on two-dimensional semiconductors. However, current techniques for depositing ultrathin metal oxide layers on two-dimensional semiconductors suffer from quality issues that can compromise transistor perfor...

Nonreciprocal electrical transport, characterized by an asymmetric relationship between current and voltage, plays a crucial role in modern electronic industries. Recent studies have extended this phenomenon to superconductors, introducing the concept of the superconducting diode effect (SDE). The SDE is characterized by unequal critical supercurre...

Chromium tellurides represent a novel class of two-dimensional ferromagnets with significant potential for advanced electronic applications, including spintronics and magnonics. Despite their promise, the fabrication of large-area samples remains a considerable challenge. In this study, we report a facile modification to the common ambient-pressure...

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors hold great potential for next-generation electronics in extending Moore’s law beyond silicon. However, despite pioneering advances in proof-of-concept device demonstration and wafer-scale crystal synthesis, its industrialization will be hampered by the lack of a compatible residue-free patterning technology. To o...

Corticotropin‐releasing hormone (CRH) has been well documented playing a role in the regulation of cellular processes, immune responses, and inflammatory processes that can influence the occurrence and development of tumors. Supervillin (SVIL) is a membrane‐associated and actin‐binding protein, which is actively involved in the proliferation, sprea...

The ambient stability is one of the focal points for applications of 2D materials, especially for those well‐known air‐sensitive ones, such as black phosphorus (BP) and transitional metal telluride. Traditional methods of encapsulation, such as atomic layer deposition of oxides and heterogeneous integration of hexagonal boron nitride, can hardly av...

Two‐dimensional ultrathin ferroelectrics have attracted much interest due to their potential application in high‐density integration of non‐volatile memory devices. Recently, 2D van der Waals ferroelectric based on interlayer translation has been reported in twisted bilayer h‐BN and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). However, sliding ferroele...

The metal indium sulfides have attracted extensive research interest in photocatalysis due to regulable atomic configuration and excellent optoelectronic properties. However, the synthesis of metal indium sulfide atomic layers is still challenging since intrinsic non‐van‐der‐Waals layered structures of some components. Here, a surfactant self‐assem...

Conventional liquid-phase methods lack precise control in synthesizing and processing materials with macroscopic sizes and atomic thicknesses. Water interfaces are ubiquitous and unique in catalyzing many chemical reactions. However, investigations on two-dimensional (2D) materials related to water interfaces remain limited. Here we report the grow...

Supervillin (SVIL), the biggest member of the villin/gelsolin superfamily, has recently been reported to promote the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by stimulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, data about the role of SVIL in the migration of colorectal cancer cells are scarce. We investigated the effects of SVIL on the mi...

Charge trap materials that can store carriers efficiently and controllably are desired for memory applications. Two‐dimensional (2D) materials are promising for highly compacted and reliable memory mainly due to their ease of constructing atomically uniform interfaces, however, remain unexplored as being charge trap media. Here we discover that 2D...

Due to its inversion‐broken triple helix structure and the nature of Weyl semiconductor, two‐dimensional Tellurene (2D Te) is promising to possess a strong nonlinear optical response in the infrared region, which is rarely reported in 2D materials. Here, a giant nonlinear infrared response induced by large Berry curvature dipole (BCD) is demonstrat...

Bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), a second-order nonlinear optical effect governed by the quantum geometric properties of materials, offers a promising approach to overcome the Shockley-Quiesser limit of traditional photovoltaic effect and further improve the efficiency of energy harvesting. Here, we propose an effective platform, the nano edges emb...

Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor type 2 protein (NLRP2) was reported to inhibit NF-κB in response to inflammatory stimuli, but its role in tumors remains elusive. We screened out NLRP2 from mouse models of breast cancer metastasis. Bioinformatics analysis showed NLRP2 expression was positively correlated with survival r...

We have achieved the synthesis of dual-metal single atoms and atomic clusters that co-anchor on a highly graphitic carbon support. The catalyst comprises Ni4 (and Fe4) nanoclusters located adjacent to the corresponding NiN4 (and FeN4) single-atom sites, which is verified by systematic X-ray absorption characterization and density functional theory...

2D ferromagnets have garnered considerable attention for their potential applications in spintronics, magnonics, and spin-orbitronics. Chromium tellurides (CrxTey), in particular, have drawn interest due to their exceptional magnetic properties and diverse range of chemical stoichiometries, attributed to the phenomenon of chromium self-intercalatio...

The liquid‐air interface offers a platform for the in‐plane growth of free‐standing materials. However, it is rarely used for inorganic perovskites and ultrathin non‐layered perovskites. Herein the liquid‐air interfacial synthesis of inorganic perovskite nanosheets (Cs3Bi2I9, Cs3Sb2I9) is achieved simply by drop‐casting the precursor solution with...

Liquid‐air interface offers a preferable platform for in‐plane growth of free‐standing materials. However, there is a lack of liquid‐air interfacial growth of inorganic perovskites and ultrathin non‐layered perovskites. Here liquid‐air interfacial synthesis of inorganic perovskite nanosheets (Cs3Bi2I9, Cs3Sb2I9) is simply achieved by drop‐casting o...

Two‐dimensional metal oxides (2DMOs) have stimulated tremendous attention due to their distinct electronic structures and abundant surface chemistry. However, it remains a standing challenge for the synthesis of 2DMOs because of their intrinsic 3D lattice structure and ultrahigh synthesis temperature. Here, a reliable WSe2‐assisted chemical vapor d...

The understanding of dynamics and reactions in a liquid environment is essential for broad areas of science and industry. However, the traditional environment transmission electron microscopy (ETEM) faces some limitations when dealing with liquid samples. For the “opened” environment, the high vacuum restricted the amount of liquid, while for the “...

Early transition metals offer promising orthogonal reactivity to catalytic processes promoted by late transition metals. Nevertheless, exploiting variable single-atomic configurations as reactive centers is hitherto not well documented owing to their oxophilic nature. Herein we report an in-situ grafting strategy that employs nitrogenated holey car...

The electromagnetic spectrum between microwave and infrared light is termed the “terahertz (THz) gap”, of which there is an urgent lack of feasible and efficient room‐temperature (RT) THz detectors. Type‐II Weyl semimetals (WSMs) have been predicted to host significant RT topological photoresponses in low‐frequency regions, especially in the THz ga...

Superlattices—a periodic stacking of two-dimensional layers of two or more materials—provide a versatile scheme for engineering materials with tailored properties1,2. Here we report an intrinsic heterodimensional superlattice consisting of alternating layers of two-dimensional vanadium disulfide (VS2) and a one-dimensional vanadium sulfide (VS) cha...

As the scaling-down of semiconductor processing technology goes on, it is urgent to find the successor of Silicon-based materials since the severe short channel effect lowers down their energy efficiency as logic devices. Due to its atomic thickness and van der Waals surface, two-dimensional semiconductors have won huge attention in this area, amon...

A universal atomic layer confined doping strategy is developed to prepare isolated Cu atoms incorporated Bi24O31Br10 materials. The local polarization can be created along Cu‐O‐Bi atomic interface, which enables better electron delocalization for effective N2 activation. The optimized Cu‐Bi24O31Br10 atomic layers show 5.3 and 88.2 times improved ph...

As part of our continuous studies on natural cholinesterase inhibitors from plant kingdom, the 95% ethanol extract from tubers of Bletilla striata showed promising butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibition (IC 50 = 8.6 μg/mL). The extracts with different polarities (petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water) were prepared and evaluated for...

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have shown a range of extraordinary properties including superconductivity, topological states and ferroelectricity. Among them, 2D arrays with emerging properties have drawn intense interest due to their great potentials in implementing high-density electric devices and advanced integrated circuits. The controllable...

A cell-derived decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) plays a vital role in controlling cell functions because of its similarity to the in vivo microenvironment. In the process of stem cell differentiation, the composition of the dECM is not constant but is dynamically remolded. However, there is little information regarding the dynamic regulat...

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with multiphase, multielement crystals such as transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) (based on V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cd, Pt and Pd) and transition metal phosphorous chalcogenides (TMPCs) offer a unique platform to explore novel physical phenomena. However, the synthesis of a single-phase/single-composition crystal of these 2...

The feature endowing atomic Ni-N-C electrocatalysts with exceptional intrinsic alkaline hydrogen evolution activity is hitherto not well-documented and remains elusive. To this end, we rationally exploited the hierarchical porous carbon microstructures as scaffolds to construct unique Ni-N2+2-S active sites to boost the sluggish Volmer reaction kin...

Single‐atom catalysts (SACs) with a maximum atom utilization efficiency have received growing attention in heterogeneous catalysis. The supporting substrate that provides atomic‐dispersed anchoring sites and the local electronic environment in these catalysts is crucial to their activity and stability. Here, inspired by N‐doped graphene substrate,...

Magneto‐optical effect has been widely used in light modulation, optical sensing, and information storage. Recently discovered 2D van der Waals layered magnets are considered as promising platforms for investigating novel magneto‐optical phenomena and devices, due to the long‐range magnetic ordering down to atomically thin thickness, rich species,...

Pentagonal 2D materials as a new member in the 2D material family have attracted increasing attention due to the exotic physical properties originating from the unique Cairo pentagonal tiling topology. Herein, the penta‐PdPS atomic layers as a new air‐stable 2D semiconductor with the unique puckered pentagonal low‐symmetry structure are successfull...

Understanding nanostructure ripening mechanisms is desirable for gaining insight on the growth and potential applications of nanoscale materials. However, the atomic pathways of nanostructure ripening in solution have rarely been observed directly. Here, we report defect-mediated ripening of Cd-CdCl2 core-shell nanoparticles (CSN) revealed by in-si...

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment is considered as an innovative approach for cancers. Since not every patient responded well to ICI therapy, it is imperative to screen out novel signatures to predict prognosis. Based on 407 gastric cancer (GC) samples retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), 36 immune-related hub genes were identif...

Two-dimensional materials that are intrinsically ferromagnetic are crucial for the development of compact spintronic devices. However, most non-layered 2D magnets with a strong ferromagnetic order are difficult to synthesize. Here we show that the flakes of trigonal and monoclinic Cr5Te8 can be grown via a chemical vapour deposition method. Using m...

Rational design of noble metal catalysts with the potential to leverage efficiency is vital for industrial applications. Such an ultimate atom-utilization efficiency can be achieved when all noble metal atoms exclusively contribute to catalysis. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a wafer-size amorphous PtSex film on a SiO2 substate via a low-t...

Single-metal-atom chains (SMACs), as the smallest one-dimensional structure, have intriguing physical and chemical properties. Although several SMACs have been realized so far, their controllable fabrication remains challenging due to the need to arrange single atoms in an atomically precise manner. Here we develop a chemical vapour co-deposition m...

2D transition metal dichalcogenides of chromium are technologically important due to their diverse electrical and magnetic properties. In this study, 1T CrS2 nanosheets as thin as 2 nm were successfully synthesized by an atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The prepared CrS2 nanosheets are stable at room temperature. Electri...

Discovery of intrinsic two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials is crucial for understanding the fundamentals of 2D magnetism and realizing next-generation magnetoelectronic and magneto-optical devices. Although significant efforts have been devoted to identifying 2D magnetism by exfoliating bulk magnetic layered materials, seldom studies are perfor...

Two‐dimensional (2D) magnetic crystals with intrinsic ferromagnetism are highly desirable for novel spin‐electronic devices. However, the controllable synthesis of 2D magnets, especially the direct growth of 2D magnets on substrate surfaces, is still a challenge. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis of ultrathin zinc‐blende phase manganese selenide (...

Carbon-based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) are recognized as low-cost stable photovoltaics. However, currently most highly efficient C-PSCs are optically opaque, which means that they can only utilize direct illumination but...

Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors (NLRs) are crucial types of innate immune sensors and well-known for their critical roles in the immune system. However, how NLRP2 functions in the progression of cancer is largely unknown. Here, we identified NLRP2 as an anti-oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells. Gain- and loss...

The prognosis and immunotherapy response rates are unfavorable in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The tumor microenvironment is associated with tumor prognosis and progression, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We obtained differentially expressed immune-related genes from OSCC mRNA data in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TC...

Carbon-based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) are widely accepted as stable, cost-effective photovoltaics. However, C-PSCs have been suffering from relatively low power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) due to severe electrode-related energy loss. Herein, we report the application of a single-atom material (SAM) as the back electrode in C-PSCs. Our Ti1...

Corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) has been demonstrated to participate in vascular inflammation and permeability. Our previous studies have shown that blockade of S1PR2 or CRHR1 inhibited H2O2-induced brain endothelial hyperpermeability via inhibiting cPLA2 phosphorylation. However, little is known about the linkage between S1PRs and CRHR1 in...

Artifcial synaptic devices are the essential components of neuromorphic computing systems, which are capable of parallel information storage and processing with high area and energy efciencies, showing high promise in future storage systems and in-memory computing. Analogous to the diffusion of neurotransmitter between neurons, ion-migration-based s...

Polynary transition‐metal atom catalysts are promising to supersede platinum (Pt)‐based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Regulating the local configuration of atomic catalysts is the key to catalyst performance enhancement. Different from the previously reported single‐atom or dual‐atom configurations, a new type of ternary‐atom catal...

Background DNA-sensing receptor cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) and its downstream signaling effector stimulator of interferon genes (STING) present a novel role in anti-tumor immunity. Recently, the combination of cGAS-STING agonists and immunotherapy achieved promising results in some tumor types. The correlation between cGAS-STING signaling pathw...

The inefficient charge separation and lack of active sites have been regarded as the main obstacles limiting the CO2 photoreduction efficiency. It is highly desirable but challenging to create a local polarization field to accelerate charge separation and build reactive sites for CO2 reduction dynamics. Herein, atomic level bismuth‐oxygen vacancy p...

Atomic transition‐metal‐nitrogen‐carbon catalysts (M‐N‐Cs) hold great promise as Pt‐group‐metal‐free candidates for electrochemical reactions, yet their rational design and controllable synthesis remain fundamental challenges. Here, the molten‐salts mediated pyrolysis is demonstrated to be an effective and facile strategy for simultaneous morpholog...

Supervillin (SVIL) is an actin-binding and membrane-associated protein, which belongs to villin/gelsolin family. It has been reported that SVIL was involved in the regulation of macrophages’ movement and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) increased the SVIL mRNA expression in neutrophils, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. This work investigated t...

Weyl nodes and Fermi arcs in type-II Weyl semimetals (WSMs) have led to lots of exotic transport phenomena. Recently, Mo0.25W0.75Te2 has been established as a type-II WSM with Weyl points located near Fermi level, which offers an opportunity to study its intriguing band structure by electrical transport measurements. Here, by selecting a special sa...

Transition metal tellurides (TMTs) have attracted intense interest due to their intriguing physical properties arising from their diverse phase topologies. To date, a wide range of physical properties have been discovered for TMTs, including that they can act as topological insulators, semiconductors, Weyl semimetals, and superconductors. Among the...

The development of earth‐abundant oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts with high catalytic activity and good stability for practical metal‐air batteries remains an enormous challenge. Herein, a highly efficient and durable ORR catalyst is reported, which consists of atomically dispersed Co single atoms (Co‐SAs) in the form of Co‐N4 moieties an...

Recently, new states of matter like superconducting or topological quantum states were found in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and manifested themselves in a series of exotic physical behaviors. Such phenomena have been demonstrated to exist in a series of transition metal tellurides including MoTe2, WTe2 and alloyed MoxW1-xTe2. However, t...

Background Immunotherapy is a crucial therapeutic approach in oncology. However, most patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) do not derive benefit from immunotherapy. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/VEGF Receptor 2 (VEGFR2) signaling pathway is one of the most important pathways regulating angiogenesis in tumor. The c...

Background: Mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (MT-ND2) m. 5178C>A gene mutation has protective effects against various diseases, but the molecular mechanism is still unclear. In previous study, we found a heteroplasmy level of MT-ND2 m. 5178C>A mutation in normotensive controls. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from essential hypert...

A rational design and the metal coordination environment regulating of single-atom catalysts (SACs) in specific catalytic reaction remain great challenges. The oxygen defective support can be employed as traps to capture metal species, which provides an effective pathway to synthesize SACs. Here, we propose a counterions-assisted oxygen-driven defe...

Novel 2D semiconductors play an increasingly important role in modern nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. Herein, a novel topology designer based on component fusion is introduced, featured by the submolecular component integration and properties inheritance. As expected, a new air-stable 2D semiconductor PdPSe with a tailored puckered structure i...

Herein, a 7.35 wt% Co loading C-SAC is synthesized by pyrolysis of Co-MOF-74 in a strongly polar molten salt system. In dye-sensitized solar cells, this SAC based counter electrode shows higher photoelectric conversion efficiency than the Pt counter electrode. This work provides new insights for the preparation and application of C-SACs.

Supervillin (SVIL), the largest member of villin/gelsolin family, is an actin-binding and membrane-associated protein, that can also be localized to the nucleus. It has been reported that the mRNA expression of SVIL in neutrophils could be increased by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Moreover, SVIL was also o...

Impeding high temperature sintering is challengeable for synthesis of carbon-supported single-atom catalysts (C-SACs), which requires high-cost precursor and strictly-controlled procedures. Herein, by virtue of the ultrastrong polarity of salt melts, sintering of metal atoms is effectively suppressed. Meanwhile, doping with inorganic sulfur anions...

Background Posterior capsule opacification is one of the most common complications after cataract surgery. Studies have suggested that the introduction of a capsule tension ring might play a critical role in the prevention of capsule opacification, yet quantitative evidence is still lacking. This work consists of a meta-analysis on available data i...

Carrier doping is the basis of the modern semiconductor industry. Great efforts are put into the control of carrier doping for 2D semiconductors, especially the layered transition metal dichalcogenides. Here, the direct laser patterning of WSe2 devices via light‐induced hole doping is systematically studied. By changing the laser power, scan speed,...

Precisely controlled synthesis is one of the key issues for single-atom catalysts (SACs) due to isolated atoms have high surface-free-energy toward aggregation. Here, we propose a facile cooperative cascade protection strategy that can transform zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-67 (ZIF-67) to SACs with assistance of readily available salts and gluco...

Oxidative stress of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is an essential element contributing to the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Notably, the activation of Nrf2 is regarded as an effective strategy for controlling oxidation. The novel 2,3-dihydroflavonoid compound farrerol, which is extracted from Rhododendron, possesses...