Fei Pan

• Dr. sc. ETH Zürich
• ETH Zurich

To control materials-associated bacterial infections, understanding the underlying mechanisms of bacteria and surface interactions is essential. Here we focused on studying how material mechanical and chemical properties can impact bacterial adhesion, using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a model material. To this end, PDMS surfaces of different sti...

With increasing demand of sustainable energy, hydrogen as a recyclable and green energy resource draws a lot of attention. Optical spintronics combining the spin photoelectron thereby distinct itself as the...

Chronic wounds are not only a burden for patients but also pose a challenge for clinic treatment due to biofilm formation. Here, we utilized the phenomenon that chronic wounds possess an elevated local pH of 8.9 and developed pH-sensitive silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) to achieve a targeted drug release on alkaline wounds and optimize drug utility. C...

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most predominant microbial diseases, leading to substantial healthcare burdens and threatening human well-being. UTIs can become more critical when caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, particularly by antimicrobial-resistant types. Thereby a rapid diagnosis and identification of the antimicrobial-resistant...

Sustainable energy strategies, particularly alternatives to fossil fuels, e.g., solar-to-hydrogen production, are highly desired due to the energy crisis. Thereby, materials leading to hydrogen production by utilizing water and sunlight...

Electrophysiological electrode patches are often used to collect surface electrophysiological signals to monitor and evaluate human health. However, commercial Ag/AgCl gels are very susceptible to electrode−skin interface interference during rehabilitation exercises and cannot achieve a stable collection of electrophysiological signals. In order to...

Achieving wearable, multifunctional e‐textiles with high mechanical properties, exceptional environmental durability, and intelligent, responsive capabilities remains a significant challenge. Here, novel high‐strength, environmentally adaptable, and intelligent electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding fibers/e‐textiles composed of polyvinyl alc...

The brittleness of traditional ceramics severely limits their application progress in engineering. The multiscale structural design of organisms can solve this problem, but it still lacks sufficient research and attention. The underlined main feature is the multiscale hierarchical structures composed of basic nano–microstructure units arranged in o...

Conductive hydrogels have wide application prospects in flexible electronics, biosensors, and soft robotics because of their high flexibility, adjustable mechanical properties, and excellent electrochemical properties. However, it is difficult for a pure conductive polymer or rigid conductive filler hydrogel to meet the application requirements reg...

The development of aeroengine with a high thrust-weight ratio poses great challenges for current top-coating thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) and environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) in service. Medium/high-entropy ceramics are highly promising candidate material for advanced TBCs/EBCs owing to their low thermal conductivity, high melting point, hi...

Structural color is a remarkable physical phenomenon that exists widely in nature. Unlike traditional color rendering methods, they are realized mainly through micro/nanostructures that interfere, diffract, scatter light, and exhibit long‐life and environmental‐friendly color effects. In nature, a few organisms use their color‐changing system to tr...

Light weight, thinness, transparency, flexibility, and insulation are the key indicators for flexible electronic device substrates. The common flexible substrates are usually polymer materials, but their recycling is an overwhelming challenge. Meanwhile, paper substrates are limited in practical applications because of their poor mechanical and the...

Comprehensive Summary The utilization of rare earth (RE) elements is pivotal in wave absorption. In particular cases, RE group elements manifesting unique 4f electron layer structures are doped as impurities into certain materials, which is a practical and reliable method for regulating these materials' magnetic and electrical properties. Moreover,...

The rapid, energy‐efficient, scalable preparation of high‐strength, flexible, multifunctional nanostructured aerogels is highly desired yet challenging. Here, an ambient‐pressure‐dried (APD) strategy is developed involving self‐foaming, dip‐coating, and graphene oxide (GO)‐assisted multiple cross‐linking treatments for the prompt, large‐area prepar...

Designing a functional, conductive metal-organic framework (cMOF) is highly desired. Substantial efforts have been dedicated to increasing the intralayer conjugation of the cMOFs, while less dedication has been made to tuning the interlayer charge transport of the metal-organic nanosheets for the controllable dielectric property. Here, we construct...

Drinking water contamination, often caused by bacteria, leads to substantial numbers of diar-rhea deaths each year, especially in undeveloped regions. Human urine as a source of fertilizer, when handled improperly,...

Transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes) show great potential for preparing wearable, flexible multifunctional e‐textiles due to the exceptional electrical and mechanical properties and easy processing in aqueous medium. At present, MXene‐based e‐textiles face challenges including high production costs, low utilization of precursor titanium alum...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) manifest enormous potential in promoting electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption thanks to the tailored components, topological structure, and high porosity. Herein, rodlike conductive MOFs (cMOFs) composed of adjustable metal ions of Zn, Cu, Co, or Ni and ligands of hexahydroxytriphenylene (HHTP) are prepared to attai...

Throughout billions of years, biological systems have evolved sophisticated, multiscale hierarchical structures to adapt to changing environments. Biomaterials are synthesized under mild conditions through a bottom-up self-assembly process, utilizing substances from the surrounding environment, and meanwhile are regulated by genes and proteins. Add...

Developing multifunctional hydrogels with high strength, toughness, and conductivity is critical for various applications in soft robots, wearable devices, and human-computer interfaces. Inspired by the Hofmeister effect, a type of composite hydrogels was prepared using a freezing and salting-out approach, which combines transition metal carbide/ni...

Polymers are widely employed to improve the mechanical properties of transition metal carbides and/or nitrides (MXenes) for constructing high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shields. The challenges involve the insulating-polymer-induced compromise of electrical conductivity and EMI shielding performance of the MXene-based composites...

Transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes) with metallic electrical conductivity and excellent processability attract increasing attention for assembling multifunctional macrostructures. However, the challenges, involving poor mechanical strength, inferior oxidation stability, and limited scalable manufacturing, impede their wide applications. Her...

Ambient‐pressure‐dried (APD) preparation of transition metal carbide/nitrides (MXene) aerogels is highly desirable yet remains highly challenging. Here, ultrathin, high‐strength‐to‐weight‐ratio, renewable cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are efficiently utilized to assist in the APD preparation of ultralight yet robust, highly conductive, large‐area MXe...

Thanks to the high strength-to-weight ratio and aspect ratio, large specific surface area, and sustainability, cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) have incomparable advantages in constructing multifunctional aerogels. However, efficient utilization of the nanofibrous microstructure for developing aerogels of high-performance is extremely challenging due to...

Sepsis, the systemic response to infection, is a life-threatening situation for patients and leads to high mortality, especially when caused by antimicrobial resistant pathogens. Prompt diagnosis and identification of the pathogenic bacteria, including their antibiotic resistance, are highly desired to yield a timely decision for treatment. Here, w...

To optimally apply antibiotics and antimicrobials, smart wound dressing conferring controlled drug release and preventing adhesions of biological objects is advantageous. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm), a conventional thermo-responsive polymer, and poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC), a typical antifouling polymer, have the...

sı Supporting Information 5 ABSTRACT: Increased occurrence of antimicrobial resistance leads to 6 a huge burden on patients, the healthcare system, and society 7 worldwide. Developing antimicrobial materials through doping rare-8 earth elements is a new strategy to overcome this challenge. To this end, 9 we design antibacterial films containing CeO...

Developing high-performance and functional hydrogels that mimic biological materials in nature is promising yet remains highly challenging. Through a facile, scalable unidirectional freezing followed by a salting-out approach, a type of hydrogels composed of "trashed" MXene sediment (MS) and biomimetic pores is manufactured. By integrating the hone...

Sustainable energy strategies, particularly solar-to-hydrogen production, are anticipated to overcome the global reliance on fossil fuels. Thereby, materials enabling the production of green hydrogen from water and sunlight are continuously designed, e.g., ZnO nanostructures coated by gold sea-urchin-like nanoparticles, which employ the light-to-pl...

Outside Front Cover: Antibacterial activity based on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been investigated. A doped metal oxide catalyst deposited by sputtering was postoxidized and covered by a hydrophobic plasma polymer film, allowing diffusion of water and ROS. Rapid bacterial inhibition was observed even during storage in the da...

Bioinspired hydrogels are complex materials with distinctive properties comparable to biological tissues. Their exceptional sensitivity to various external stimuli leads to substantial application potential in wearable smart devices. However, these multifaceted hydrogels are often challenging to be combined with pattern customization, stimulus resp...

Hydrogels of flexibility, strength, and conductivity have demonstrated broad applications in wearable electronics and soft robotics. However, it is still a challenge to fabricate conductive hydrogels with high strength massively and economically. Herein, a simple strategy is proposed to design a strong ionically conductive hydrogel. This ion-conduc...

Bacterial infections related to medical devices cause severe problems, whose solution requires understanding of the interactions between bacteria and surfaces. This work investigates the influence of surface physicochemistry on bacterial attachment and detachment under flow through both empirical and simulation studies. We employed polydimethylsilo...

To enable a rapid‐acting antibacterial mechanism without the release of biocidal substances, TiO2 catalysts have been considered based on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Doping with dissimilar metals generates electron‐hole pairs with narrow band gaps promoting the production of ROS. Here, plasma technology is investigated to depos...

Machine-Learning Predicted Surface Plasmon Resonance In article number 2100052, Chia-Chen Wu, Fei Pan, and Yen-Hsun Su employ genetic-algorithm-based artificial neural networks (GANNs) to coordinate the synthesis parameters with surface plasmon. A well-trained GANN model through machine learning and empirical database yields a precise projection of...

Gold sea‐urchin‐like nanoparticles (GSNPs) are a promising candidate for cancer thermotherapy. Due to the complex growth of GSNPs and the need for the precise prediction of their surface plasmon wavelength, genetic‐algorithm‐based artificial neural networks (GANNs) are used to determine the relationship between synthesis parameters and the surface...

Titanium (Ti)-based implants are broadly applied in the medical field, their related infections can lead to implant failure. Photo-irradiation of metal materials to generate antimicrobial agents, an alternative to antibiotics, is a promising method to reduce bacterial infection and antibiotic usage. It is thereby important to understand how bacteri...

To avoid excessive usage of antibiotics and antimicrobial agents, smart wound dressings permitting controlled drug release for treatment of bacterial infections are highly desired. In search of a sensitive stimulus to activate drug release under physiological conditions, we found that the glass transition temperature (Tg) of a polymer or polymer bl...

Nanofibrillated cellulose is efficiently employed as green dispersant, cross-linker and structure-directing agent assisting in the preparation of large-area ambient pressure dried carbon nanotube (CNT) foams using a facile, energy-efficient, and scalable freezing-thawing-drying approach. The resultant CNT based foams show unidirectional microhoneyc...

Bacterial colonization poses significant health risks, such as, infestation of surfaces in biomedical applications and clean water unavailability. If maintaining the surrounding water clean is a target, developing surfaces with strong bactericidal action, which is facilitated by bacterial access to the surface and mixing, can be a solution. On the...

Over the past few decades, the multifunctional material, metal-organic frameworks(MOFs), has been distinguished for their unique properties such as reticular structure, permanent porosities, high surface area, straightforwardly self-assembly and crystalline nature. On a count of these potentialities, the applications of MOFs can be classified into...

In response to global energy shortage and global warming, liquid-typed energy-yielding thermocells regulated by temperature-difference are developed in this study, enabling to generate electric power from excess thermal energy or waste heat. The cells constitute of nature pigments and the waste water. The cells are stable and functional within a na...

The different-shape Cu2O nanostructured in solar water splitting system serves as the photon absorber structure for modulating photoelectric conversion to challenge the issue of the high resistance and low electronic mobility with the different light trapping effect due to the orientation and geometry of Cu2O. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) s...

Firefly-like chemiluminescence reaction was utilized in the ZrO2 nanoparticles matrix water splitting cells, where the chlorophyll of Lantana camara was the major photosensitizer to excite electrons to the conduction band of ZrO2. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) was induced by Rubrene, a firefly-like chemiluminescence molecule, an...

Inclusion species formed in SS400 steel with Ce-addition was predicted by thermodynamic calculation. The analysis of the inclusion morphology and size distribution was carried out by applying Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Nano-Fe3O4 particles were also found in cerium-deoxidized and -desulfurized ste...

With the amount of Ce increased from 5 to 100 ppm, that of oxygen increased from 5 to 25 ppm and that of sulfur increased from 5 to 25 ppm, the transformation of the main inclusions formed in liquid SS400 steel could be predicted by applying thermodynamic calculation especially FactSage. Ce2O3 is a stable inclusion when steels containing cerium coo...

Thermodynamic calculation has been applied to predict the inclusion formation in molten SS400 steel. When the Cerium addition in liquid iron is 70 ppm and the initial Oxygen and Sulphur are both 110 ppm, the formation of oxides containing Cerium would experience the transformation from Ce2O3 to CeO2 and also the formation of sulfides containing Cer...

Rare earth metals are used in semiconductors, solar cells and catalysts. This review focuses on the background of oxide metallurgy technologies, the chemical and physical properties of rare earth (RE) metals, the background of oxide metallurgy, the functions of RE metals in steelmaking, and the influences of RE metals on steel microstructures. Futu...

By the means of chemical etching, silicon nanowire arrays can be manufactured. Then histidine would be grafted to the silicon nanowire arrays by a series of methods. The silicon nanowire arrays could be characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), contact angle meter and ultraviolet spectrophotometer. The tests of Enzyme-linked immunosorbent...

A method was developed to modify silicon surfaces with good protein resistance and specific cell attachment. A silicon surface was initially deposited using a block copolymer of N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) (PVP-b-PHEMA) film through surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization and then further immobiliz...