Xiaojun Han

Harbin Institute of Technology | HIT · Department of Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering

Constructing a synthetic community system helps scientist understand the complex interactions among species in a community and its environment. Herein, a two-species community is constructed with species A (artificial cells encapsulating pH-responsive molecules and sucrose) and species B (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which causes the environment to e...

Therapeutics based on messenger RNA (mRNA) have become a promising class of methods for various diseases’ treatments in recent years. The safe and effective delivery of mRNA into target cells is the premise of the clinical translation of mRNA. Due to the protonation of ionizable lipids in acidic conditions, the ionizable lipid nanoparticles (iLNPs)...

Although photocatalytic technology is applied in water treatment, the challenge still exists due to its low photocatalytic performance. Herein, a photocatalytic reactor coupled with nanobubbles (NBs) is developed to degrade organic pollutants in wastewater. The reactor contains Ti mesh coated with TiO2 nanotube arrays as a photocatalyst. The introd...

Sustainable energy conversion modules are the main challenges for building complex reaction cascades in artificial cells. Recent advances in biotechnology have enabled this sustainable energy supply, especially the adenosine triphosphate (ATP), by mimicking the organelles, which are the core structures for energy conversion in living cells. Three c...

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) is based on the endogenous generation of cytotoxic hydroxyl free radicals (·OH) with high specificity and selectivity between cancer and normal cells. However, its efficacy is often limited by the relatively deficient catalytic activity of nanozymes in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Therefore, the combination of CDT wi...

Electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a tremendous potential technology to convert readily available N2 on Earth into highly value-added NH3. However, it still faces great challenges due to the difficult activation of nitrogen at room temperature. Herein, [email protected] nanocubes were synthesized for the electrochemical nitrogen r...

Comprehensive Summary The bottom‐up construction of self‐powered artificial cells is significant to understand the energy supply and metabolism of nature cells. Here, we demonstrate an efficient manner to build thylakoid‐containing artificial cells, which continuously convert light energy into chemical energy to supply adenosine 5’‐triphosphate (AT...

The bottom‐up constructed artificial cells help to understand the cell working mechanism and provide the evolution clues for organisms. The energy supply and metabolism mimicry are the key issues in the field of artificial cells. Herein, an artificial cell containing cyanobacteria capable of light harvesting and carbon dioxide fixation is demonstra...

Several biological macromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides, occupy about 30% of the space in cells, resulting in a crowded macromolecule environment. The crowding effect within cells exerts an impact on the functions of biological components, the assembly behavior of biomacromolecules, and the thermodynamics and kinetic...

Electrochemical N 2 fixation is considered to be a promising alternative to century‐dated Haber‐Bosch technology. Inspired by the composition and structure of natural Nitrogenase, Fe doped VS 2 nanosheets were prepared via one‐step solvothermal method. The electron transfer system mediated by organic conductive polymer (1‐AAQ‐PA) was bio‐mimeticall...

InVO4 possesses great potential in photocatalytic CO2 conversion. It is still highly desired to develop efficient strategies of photocatalyst fabrication to prevent its attenuated activity caused by the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron-hole. Herein, a direct Z-scheme heterojunction of Bi2WO6/InVO4 nanosheets is constructed via two-ste...

Bottom-up synthesis of prototissues helps us to understand the internal cellular communications in the natural tissues and their functions, as well as to improve or repair the damaged tissues. The existed prototissues are rarely used to improve the function of living tissues. We demonstrate a methodology to produce spatially programmable prototissu...

The bottom‐up construction of an artificial cell model system starting from inanimate components helps people better understand the working mechanism of cells. Phospholipids are natural components of the cell membrane system, which are widely used to construct artificial cells. However, it is difficult to synthesize natural phospholipids in situ. C...

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) is a powerful gene editing tool for treating disease. The safe and effective delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 components into cells is the premise of gene editing. The non-viral vectors based on nanotechnology are the promising carriers to replace the currently widel...

The mimicry of living tissues from artificial cells is beneficial to understanding the interaction mechanism among cells, as well as holding great potentials in the tissue engineering field. Self-powered artificial cells capable of reversible deformation are developed by encapsulating living mitochondria, actin proteins, and methylcellulose. Upon t...

Electrocatalytic nitrogen fixation shows a promising possibility for converting nitrogen to ammonia. We demonstrate Fe as an effective dopant for modulating the electronic structure of InVO4 nanosheets to generate abundant oxygen vacancies, which significantly boost the electrochemical N2 reduction performance with high selectivity. Benefiting from...

The electrochemical ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions is a promising process instead of energy-intensity Haber-Bosch process with the release of huge greenhouse gases. But it still faces sluggish catalytic kinetics due to difficulty of N2 adsorption and N≡N bond cleavage. Herein, the uniform ZrO2@C with octahedral structure is synthesized...

Photocatalysis shows great potential in pollution degradation without environmental harm. Herein, TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTAs) were prepared on titanium mesh by an anodic oxidation method, and Bi2WO6/TiO2 nanocomposites (BWO/TNTAs) with different Bi2WO6 contents were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The Bi2WO6 nanosheets decorated on TNTAs sig...

Bottom-up synthesis of prototissues helps us to understand the internal cellular communications in the natural tissues and their functions, as well as to improve or repair the damaged tissues. The existed prototissues are rarely used to improve the function of living tissues. We demonstrated a methodology to produce spatially programmable prototiss...

Heavy metal ion pollution has been a potential threat to human health. Herein, a sensitive electrochemical sensor for simultaneously detection of Cd(II) and Pb(II) was developed using a metal-organic framework material UiO-66. UiO-66 before and after carbonization are used to modify the GCE electrodes, respectively. The carbonized UiO-66 modified G...

Electrospinning is considered the most versatile micro‐/nanofiber fabrication technology. The electrospun fibers hold high surface area, desired mechanical properties, controlled topography, as well as the ease of biochemical functionalization. The 3D electrospun fibrous structures closely mimic the hierarchical architecture and fibrous features of...

The bottom-up constructed artificial cells help to understand the cell working mechanism and provide the evolution clues for organisms. Cyanobacteria are believed to be the ancestors of chloroplasts according to endosymbiosis theory. Herein we demonstrate an artificial cell containing cyanobacteria to mimic endosymbiosis phenomenon. The cyanobacter...

Ammonia is an indispensable industrial chemical for fertilizer production and energy carriers. Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) shows a promising possibility for converting dinitrogen to ammonia under a mild condition, which is expected to replace the harsh Haber-Bosch process. However, the industrial application of NRR is limited...

In confined spaces, bacteria exhibit unexpected cellular behaviors that are related to the biogeochemical cycle and human health. Types of confined spaces include lipid vesicles, polymer vesicles, emulsion droplets, microfluidic chips, and various laboratory-made chambers. This mini-review summarizes the behaviors of living bacteria in these confin...

It is a tough challenge for many decades to decipher the complex relationships between cell behaviors and cellular physical properties. Single particle tracking (SPT) with high spatial and temporal resolution has been applied extensively in cell research to understand physicochemical properties of cells and their bio-functions by tracking endogenou...

We developed a novel strategy to fabricate magnetic-responsible Pickering emulsion for more effectively and controllably biphase catalysis reactions. The Pickering emulsions were stabilized by magnetite/reduced graphene oxide/Pd (MRGO-Pd) nanocomposite patches. The MRGO-Pd nanocomposite patches at the oil/water interfaces showed excellent catalytic...

The magnetic microrobots actuated by an external magnetic field can access distant, enclosed, and small spaces under fuel‐free conditions, which is apromising technology for manipulation and delivery under microenvironment; however, the complicated fabrication method limits their applications. Herein, three techniques including melt electrospinning...

Lung cancer is one of the serious malignant tumors with high morbidity and mortality due to the poor diagnosis and early metastasis. The developing nanotechnology provides novel concepts and research strategies for the lung cancer diagnosis by employing nanomaterials as diagnostic reagents to enhance diagnostic efficiency. This commentary introduce...

Hierarchically ordered scaffold has a great impact on cell patterning and tissue engineering. The introduction of controllable coils into a scaffold offers an additional unique structural feature compared to conventional linear patterned scaffolds and can greatly increase interior complexity and versatility. In this work, 3D coil compacted scaffold...

The origin of life attracts more and more attentions of researchers. Synthetic biologists are devoting to construct a simple and rational system which can exist in primitive earth. Coacervate is a phase separation system which is formed by the interactions of polyelectrolyte. It's a rational protocell model. So far, coacervate has been found to pre...

The development of biomimetic technology offers excellent opportunities for the construction of therapeutic platforms with enhanced biocompatibility and antitumor performance. In this study, lipid-bilayer-coated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) modified with mesoporous-silica nanosheets was constructed via facile lipid self-assembly for effective syner...

Acute and persistent myocardial ischemia is the main cause of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and heart failure. MicroRNA-21(miR-21) contributes to the pathophysiological consequences of acute myocardial infarction by targeting downstream crucial regulators. Thus, miR-21 mimics are a promising strategy for the treatment of AMI. However, their poo...

Antibacterial agents with enzyme-like properties and bacteria-binding ability have provided an alternative method to efficiently disinfect drug-resistance microorganism. Herein, a Fe3O4@MoS2-Ag nanozyme with defect-rich rough surface was constructed by a simple hydrothermal method and in-situ photodeposition of Ag nanoparticles. The nanozyme exhibi...

The lateral mobility serves as a key function of the cell membrane and can be regulated by the cholesterol. Here supported lipid bilayers were used to quantitatively analyse the influence of cholesterol on the fluidity of lipid bilayer in the environments with and without an electric field. We observed that with the increase of cholesterol proporti...

The bottom‐up construction of a synthetic cell from nonliving building blocks capable of mimicking cellular properties and behaviors helps to understand the particular biophysical properties and working mechanisms of a cell. A synthetic cell built in this way possesses defined chemical composition and structure. Since phospholipids are native biome...

Photocatalytic water splitting holds a key to realizing the hydrogen economy but faces a grand challenge, namely, the severe charge recombination causes low solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency. This work reports a new form of MAPbI3 microcrystal (MAPbI3-MC)/monolayer MoS2 nanosheets (ML-MoS2) composite photocatalyst with type II heterojunction to ef...

A helical perversion as a singularity structure is widely seen in nature, such as climbing plant tendril, which is referred to as a kinked state connecting two helices with opposite chirality. Although previous macroscale elastic bistrip systems have been used to fabricate multiple helix-perversion structures, it is still challenging to obtain the...

The charge density of DNA is a key parameter in strand hybridization and for the interactions occurring between DNA and molecules in biological systems. Due to the intricate structure of DNA, visualization of the surface charge density of DNA nanostructures under physiological conditions was not previously possible. Here, we perform a simultaneous...

Phospholipid self-assemblies are ubiquitous in organisms. Non spherical lipid based proto-organelles bear the merits with similar structure to real organelles. It is still a challenge to mimic mass transport between organelles inside cells. Herein, unu-sual phospholipid self-assemblies shaped like ancient Chinese coins (ACC) were discovered by the...

An ultrasound-based platform is established to prepare homogenous arrays of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) or red blood cell (RBCs), or hybrid assemblies of GUV/RBCs. Due to different responses to the modulation of the acoustic standing wave pressure field between the GUVs and RBCs, various types of protocell/natural cell hybrid assemblies are p...

Indium oxide (In2O3)-based photocatalyst has great potential for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Nevertheless, its photocatalytic activity is confined by rapid electron-hole recombination. Hence, a novel Z-scheme ternary hierarchical ZnFe2O4/RGO/In2O3 photocatalyst was fabricated for photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to CO and CH4. The CO production r...

A novel type of heterostructure photocatalyst, MnCo2O4.5 deposited TiO2 nanotube arrays, was successfully synthesized via two‐step anodization and chemical bath deposition methods. The decoration of MnCo2O4.5 nanoparticles on anatase TiO2 nanotube arrays significantly enhances photocatalytic degradation activity of tetracycline. The optimized 140Mn...

In nature, cells self-assemble into spatially coded tissular configurations to execute higher-order biological functions as a collective. This mechanism has stimulated the recent trend in synthetic biology to construct tissue-like assemblies from protocell entities, with the aim to understand the evolution mechanism of multicellular mechanisms, cre...

Amorphous MoS2 Nanoflakes are grown on the outer and inner surfaces of N-doped carbon microtubes prepared by the carbonization of the biomass of willow catkins to fabricate N doped carbon [email protected] MoS2 ([email protected]2) and subsequently the as-prepared [email protected]2 and 2D reduced graphite oxide cross link to form 3D [email protect...

Although near-infrared (NIR)-mediated phototherapy has achieved great progresses, mice with subcutaneous tumors are employed by nearly all previous phototherapy studies, which is largely different from the clinical human tumors. A large animal model with orthotopic carcinoma is highly demanded before clinical practice. This work designs a non-stoic...

Heavy metal pollution causes serious health threat to humanbeings. Herein we fabricated a novel bismuth oxycarbide (BOC) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for the simultaneous detection of cadmium and lead ions using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). The main factors influencing the detection performance, such as solutio...

In order to improve the visible light photocatalytic ability of ZnO semiconductor, a novel 3D Fe3O4/ZnO hierarchical structure (defined as 3D F-ZnO) has been successfully constructed by a Fe3O4 nanosphere assisted hydrothermal method. The forming mechanism was proposed. Its morphology, crystal structure, and visible light response property were stu...

Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles have long been stereotyped for optical luminescence bioimaging, but being known to be unable to produce therapeutic abilities. Here, we describe a lanthanide-based theranostic agent of Prussian blue (PB)-coated NaErF4@NaYF4@NaNdF4 core/shell/shell nanocrystals encapsulated in a phospholipid PEG micelle (PEG-CSS@PB), w...

The behavior of two acrylate polymers, with carboxyclic acid side groups, were investigated towards their pH-responsive intaction with phospholipid membranes. The polyanions crossed the membrane of giant unilamelar vesicles and...

Starting from simplex drug delivery system, the graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) materials have been developed to be “combo” nanoplatforms containing multiple therapeutic modalities, such as the targeted drug delivery, imaging, as well as photothermal therapy (PTT) due to their distinctive physical/chemical and optical properties including...

Photocatalytic disinfection with high performance is thought to be a promising way for water purification. Herein, plasmonic Ag doped urea-derived graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) composites were fabricated via in-situ photo-deposition at room temperature as the visible-light photocatalyst. Scan electron microscopy and transmission electron micros...

Arrays of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with controllable geometries and occupancies are prepared by acoustic trapping and used to implement chemical signaling in protocell colonies and protocell/living cell consortia.

The asymmetric micro/nano motors have attracted great attentions recently, because they convert external physical and chemical energy into the kinetic energy. Red blood cell (RBC) membranes with good deformability and fluidity are excellent natural templates for micromaterial fabrication. Herein, RBC membranes were used as templates to prepare bowl...

The antibacterial PE cling films were successfully obtained through precipitation polymerization and UV polymerization of N,N'-[(4,5-dihydroxy-1, 2-phenylene)bis(methylene)] bisacrylamide (OHABA) monomers, respectively. The inhibition rates of the PE cling films using UV polymerization method against E. coli and B. subtilis were 85.1% and 92.1% res...

Lipid vesicles, composed of cell membrane components, are not only used as an artificial cell model to mimic cell structure and functions, but also widely used in biological analysis. Liposome (phospholipid vesicle) array is a high throughput platform for protein screening and bio-sensing. This review focuses on the preparation methods of homogeneo...

The production of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with specific size and structure has been a challenge on the design of quantitative biological assays in cell-mimetic micro-compartments. In this study, the effect of electroformation parameters (electric potential, frequency, and temperature) on the size of GUVs was investigated. Using response s...

Invited for this month's cover are the collaborating groups of Prof. Xiaojun Han from Harbin Institute of Technology, China and Prof. Wenlong Cheng from Monash University, Australia. The cover picture shows how a stretchable sensor made from a 3D structure comprising mesostructured silica fibers decorated with gold nanowires exhibits reliable resis...

We use an ultrasonic standing wave to simultaneously trap and deform thousands of soft lipid vesicles immersed in a liquid solution. In our device, acoustic radiation stresses comparable in magnitude to those generated in optical stretching devices are achieved over a spatial extent of more than ten acoustic wavelengths. We solve the acoustic scatt...

The front cover shows how a stretchable sensor made from a 3D structure comprising mesostructured silica fibers decorated with gold nanowires exhibits reliable resistance signals for real‐time response to radial artery blood pulses. This work reinforces the idea of smart material hybridization and may offer flexible materials for real‐time, in situ...

Ordered nanostructures are drawing a tremendous amount of attention for their potential applications in many fields. Herein, Ag-ZnO sub-micron arrays (SRA) were synthesized by a new polycarbonate membrane (PCM) assisted electrochemical deposition method for photocatalytic degradation of Congo Red (CR) and disinfection. Ag-ZnO SRA were characterized...

The chemical signal communication among organelles in the cell is extremely important for life. We hereby demonstrated that the chemical signal communication between two protoorganelles using cascade enzyme reactions in a lipid based artificial cell. Two protoorganelles inside the artificial cell are the large unilamellar vesicles containing glucos...

Topological defects are crucial to the shaping of the crystalline membrane systems such as lipid bilayers, virus capsids, graphene, as well as the arrangement of cells in tissues. In a typical case, the introduction of disclination defects elastically buckles the crystalline membranes into conical shapes. However, how planar membranes transform to...

Neurodegenerative diseases and acute nerve injuries are becoming global clinical problems. Engineering three dimensional (3D), anisotropic neural cellular structures in vitro is therefore desirable in regenerative medicine research community. Here, we present, for the first time, a single-step, facile but delicate, fabrication of a 3D, macroporous...

Organic pollutants cause serious impacts on environment. A novel method to synthesize ZnO/Ag–Ag2O microstructures was developed for organic pollutant photocatalytic degradation. The 3D pompon-like Zn(OH)1.68(SO4)0.16·0.58H2O microspheres were firstly synthesized in a creative way by combining reaction in ethanol/water mixing layer and room-temperat...

Inspired by the appearance of a cat’s tail, we successfully designed gold nanowires (AuNWs)‐coated mesostructured silica fibers. The silica fibers had a Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET) surface area of 347 m2g‐1 and Barret‐Joyner‐Halenda (BJH) pore size of 3.8 nm. Negatively charged gold seeds could be anchored onto the surface of mesoporous silica fib...

The first priority of drug combination therapy in treatment of cancer is to achieve enhanced therapeutic efficacy and reduced side effects. The main issue in drug combination therapy is the inscrutable interaction between different drug components. Herein, we developed a multicompartmentaliazed architecture as a new delivery system. A host liposome...

Controlled drug release is promising in cancer treatment. Herein, the drug nanocarriers were developed based on Fe3O4@mSiO2 (mesoporous silica coated Fe3O4) nanoparticles (NPs) gated by lipid bilayer. They exhibited near-infrared (NIR) light-stimulated drug release in a remote and stepwise pattern. Mesoporous silica surround Fe3O4 NPs ensured high...

Of many strategies for precise tumor treatment, near-infrared (NIR) light-activated “one-for-all” theranostic modality with real-time diagnosis and therapy has attracted extensive attentions from researchers. Herein, a brand-new theranostic nanoplatform was established on versatile vanadium nitride (VN) nanosheets, which show significant NIR optica...

Wearable electronics: electrodes healable by water Wearable electronic devices are susceptible to degradation or fatigue fracture, but now the aged electrodes of the devices can be healed by simple water vapor treatment. A group of international researchers led by Prof Lifeng Cui from Dongguan University of Technology, China designs repairable micr...

The artificial tissue model always attracts scientists’ interest. Herein we proposed a simple yet novel strategy to fabricate artificial tissues on the porous polycarbonate substrate with the help of poly-l-lysine. The prepared artificial tissues formed a barrier between donor chamber and acceptor chamber. Using doxorubicin (Dox) and tetracycline a...

Tetracycline (Tc), a widely used antibiotic, is one of the major pollutants in water. Herein, glutathione (GSH)-protected Au nanoclusters (GSH-AuNCs) were prepared to detect Tc. The fluorescence quenching ratio of GSH-AuNCs shows an excellent linear response against tetracycline in the concentration range of 50 μg/L - 50 mg/L with the detection lim...

Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) are widely used as artificial cell models which contribute to elucidate fundamental questions on origin of life and cell functions. Herein, the GUV microarrays were developed using a point-to-plane electrode system combined with microcontact stripping technique. The biomolecules (DNA, etc.) were selectively encapsu...

The integrating various theranostic modalities into one nanoplatform for combined treatment of tumor is highly demanded in biomedicine field. However, it is still challenging to engineer such a platform with good biocompatible, multifunctional and external stimuli response. Herein, biocompatible lipid bilayer modified mesoporous silica coated gold...

Capsaicin, an active ingredient of red pepper, shows great antibacterial performance. Herein, a series of sodium alginate/pullulan composite films incorporated with different concentrations of capsaicin were fabricated. Their physic-chemical properties were systematically investigated. With the increase content of capsaicin, the transmittance, elon...