Perspective of energy transfer from light energy into biological energy

Energy has always been the most concerned topic in the world due to the large consumption. Various types of energy have been exploited and developed to enhance the output amount so that high requirements can be met. Like the hydro-energy, wind energy, and tidal energy, light energy as a renewable, clean, and widespread energy can be easily harvested. In microcosmic scale, some specific proteins and enzymes in green plants and bacteria play an important role in light harvest and energy conversion via photosynthesis. Inspired by the biomimetic sparks,these bioactive macromolecules and some artificially synthetic unites have been integrated together to improve the light-harvesting, and enhance their utilization efficiency. In this feature article, we primarily discuss that how to create the bio-inorganic hybrid energy converted system via biomimetic assembly strategy and artificially achieve the transformation from light into bioenergy, meanwhile highlight some promising works.

Near-infrared light-driven Janus capsule motors： Fabrication, propulsion, and simulation

We report a fuel-free, near-infrared （NIR）-driven Janus microcapsule motor. The Janus microcapsule motors were fabricated by template-assisted polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer assembly, followed by spraying of a gold layer on one side. The NIR-powered Janus motors achieved high propulsion with a maximum speed of 42μm.s-1 in water. The propulsion mechanism of the Janus motor was attributed to the self-thermophoresis effect： The asymmetric distribution of the gold layer generated a local thermal gradient, which in turn generated thermophoretic force to propel the Janus motor. Such NIR-propelled Janus capsule motors can move efficiently in cell culture medium and have no obvious effects on the cell at the power of the NIR laser, indicating considerable promise for future biomedical applications.

Amphiphilic AIEgen-polymer aggregates:Design,self-assembly and biomedical applications

Aggregation-induced emission(AIE)is a phenomenon in which fluorescence is enhanced rather than quenched upon molecular assembly.AIE fluorogens(AIEgens)are flexible,conjugated systems that are limited in their dynamics when assembled,which improves their fluorescent properties.This intriguing feature has been incorporated in many different molecular assemblies and has been extended to nanoparticles composed of amphiphilic polymer building blocks.The integration of the fascinating AIE design principle with versatile polymer chemistry opens up new frontiers to approach and solve intrinsic obstacles of conventional fluorescent materials in nanoscience,including the aggregation-caused quenching effect.Furthermore,this integration has drawn significant attention from the nanomedicine community,due to the additional advantages of nanoparticles comprising AIEgenic molecules,such as emission brightness and fluorescence stability.In this regard,a range of AIEgenic amphiphilic polymers have been developed,displaying enhanced emission in the self-assembly/aggregated state.AIEgenic assemblies are regarded as attractive nanomaterials with inherent fluorescence,which display promising features in a biomedical context,for instance in biosensing,cell/tissue imaging and tracking,as well as(photo)therapeutics.In this review,we describe recent strategies for the design and synthesis of novel types of AIEgenic amphiphilic polymers via facile approaches including direct conjugation to natural/synthetic polymers,polymerization,post-polymerization and supramolecular host−guest interactions.Their self-assembly behavior and biomedical potential will be discussed.