During the last 60 years, a great number of boron-containing compounds have been synthesized and designated as potential boron carriers for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) of several types of cancer. Several of these putative boron carriers are derivatives of α-amino acids (AAs). Despite sixty years of research, there are only two compounds used in the clinic including boronophenylalanine (BPA). Cancer cells have long been known to consume enormous amounts of nutrients such as AAs. Recent studies have revealed many mechanisms, through which they fulfill their demand for nutrients. The large amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) is an extensively studied transporter. Recent studies have expanded our knowledge and understanding of the structure of LAT1 and its mode of action. It has been demonstrated that BPA and some other AA-based boron carriers are transported by LAT1 into cancer cells. In summary, these advances have opened new prospects for designing novel LAT1-targeted AA-based boron carriers for malignant brain tumors.

Thiophenols, a family of important industrial chemicals, is highly toxic for aquatic organisms and human beings. Developing new chemical sensors with the merit of fast, low cost, portable, selective and sensitive, as well as visualizable signal output for efficient detection of thiophenols, is highly desirable. This spotlight article reviewed and discussed the current trend and statement of thiophenols-specific fluorescent probes. Moreover, the future outlook in this field was also stated.

The combination of enzymes and palladium organometallic complexes has been recently developed for the creation of new types of artificial metalloenzymes. Different methods considering the kind of protein used, from a core protein to an enzyme, or the strategies for the selective insertion of the organometallic complex from direct Pd bonding to protein amino acid, affinity interactions or covalent attachment by a Pd complex ligand have been developed. This methodology affords new Pd catalysts with highest selectivity and activity in different reactions at milder conditions compared with the free Pd complexes.

To solve the severe energy shortages, a variety of photovoltaic devices such as silicon solar cells, inorganic thin film solar cells, perovskite solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells and quantum dot solar cells, have been developed for the utilization of solar energy. Major studies focus on how to improve the photovoltaic performance of these solar cells. Some of ferroelectric materials can be spontaneously polarized and have spontaneous polarization dipole moment inside at room temperature. Recently, some of ferroelectric materials are introduced in these solar cells due to their special properties. They can be used not only as light absorbing materials in ferroelectric solar cells, but also as functional materials due to their ferroelectric characteristic. The measurable macroscopic electric field can be formed inside ferroelectric materials film that can be used as built-in electric field for photovoltaic devices to separate electron-hole pairs and facilitate their transport. Therefore, the introduction of ferroelectric materials into several important solar cells can accelerate the transport rate of photogenerated electrons, thus the short-circuit photocurrent of the cells can be increased and the light-to-electric conversion efficiency is also effectively improved. In this minireview, we summarized the applications of ferroelectric materials in the field of photovoltaics to improve their photovoltaic performance.

Fullerene, a distinct buckyball structured carbon allotrope, has immense popularity among various scientific disciplines. Comparing various fullerene allotropes, recent attention is focused on C₇₀ fullerene owing to it potent applications in various interdisciplinary arenas including optoelectronics, photovoltaics as well as in biomedical technology. Although C₇₀ suggests as a tunable material in biomedicine, con-vincing results about its toxic effects are still under controversy, which recommends the necessity for proper toxicity evaluation. Dextran polysaccharide was effectively coated on C₇₀ to overcome the poor dispersion in water and for achieving proper stabilization. The as-prepared material was further characterized using various sophisticated techniques such as DLS, TEM, FTIR and zeta potential. Chinese Hamster Ovarian cell lines (CHO) served as the subject for major experiments. Various cytotoxicity assays and DCFH-DA probe ROS scavenging analysis were done. Morphological examinations of major sub-cellular organelles were carried out with the aid of fluorescent microscopy for nuclear condensation, mitochondrial membrane potential, lysosomal integrity, cytoskeletal integrity, etc. Flow cytometric FACS analysis for possible apoptosis-necrosis mediated cell death assessment and DNA ladder experiment for genotoxicity was done. Cell viability assays show up to 80% live CHO cells after dextran-coated C₇₀ treatment for 24 h. The fluorescent staining results that confirm intact or-ganelles further prove the non-toxic nature of dextran-coated C₇₀. DNA laddering assay results ex-clude chances for genotoxic potential of dextran-coated C₇₀. Experimental results of the present study indicate that dextran stabilized C₇₀ fullerene is a potent candidate material for futuristic healthcare ap-plications.

ZnO nanorods (NRs) were grown onto ZnO seed layer deposited FTO glass substrate via hydrothermal technique at ~95 °C. The as-deposited samples were further heat-treated at ~400 °C in a furnace under air at-mosphere. With varying time, the kinetic study of the growth of ZnO towards NRs formation was also performed. To enhance oxygen defects such as oxygen vacancy in the NRs, the thermally cured samples were further heat-treated in 5% H2 gas atmosphere at ~350 °C. Morphological and microstructural analyses, estimation of oxygen vacancy in the samples were carried out by field emission scanning and transmission electron mi-croscopies and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Moreover, the optical properties of the specimen were also characterized by photoluminescence spectral study. A co-relation was also made between the reduced gas treatment time and the photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity of the samples. The ZnO NRs synthesized by optimizing the time for the growth of NRs and the reduced gas treatment time exhibited sig-nificant improvement in PEC activity. This work could make an avenue for enhancing the PEC activity of other hierarchically structured metal oxide semiconductors.

Chemical functionalization of graphene greatly expands its potential in electronic, photovoltaics and bio-logical applications. The band gap tunability of graphene achieved during the process of its hydrogenation and dehydrogenation can open its potential as an acceptor material in organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells. In this paper, we report a rapid and extensive hydrogenation of single layer graphene (SLG) by Birch reduction followed by its oxidation back to the conducting SLG. Dehydrogenation of hydrogenated SLG using 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) as an oxidising agent was performed successfully. Raman, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra provides supporting evidence for a successful dehydrogenation reaction. A control experiment without DDQ as an oxidant confirms its active role as an oxidising agent. Magnetic moment study reveals a reversibility of ferromagnetic hydrogenated SLG to a paramagnetic dehyrdrogenated SLG. Finally, the sheet resistance measurement of pristine, hydrogenated and dehydrogenated SLG shows almost complete reversal of the electrical conductivity.