Yihan Ma

Abstract Surface modification of nanomaterials is essential for their biomedical applications owing to their passive immune clearance and damage to reticuloendothelial systems. Recently, a cell membrane‐coating technology has been proposed as an ideal approach to modify nanomaterials owing to its facile functionalized process and good biocompatibility for improving performances of synthetic nanomaterials. Here, recent advances of cell membrane‐coated nanomaterials are reviewed based on the main biological functions of the cell membrane in living cells. An overview of the cell membrane is introduced to understand its functions and potential applications. Then, the applications of cell membrane‐coated nanomaterials based on the functions of the cell membrane are summarized, including physical barrier with selective permeability and cellular communication via information transmission and reception processes. Finally, perspectives of biomedical applications and challenges about cell membrane‐coated nanomaterials are discussed.

The endohedral fullerene Sc(3)NC@C(80)-I(h) has been synthesized and characterized; it has an unprecedented planar quinary cluster in a fullerene cage. It is also the first chemical compound in which the presence of an unprecedented (NC)(3-) trianion has been disclosed. The fascinating intramolecular dynamics in Sc(3)NC@C(80)-I(h) enables the whole molecule to display high polarity and promising ferroelectricity. This finding inspires the possibility that such a planar quinary cluster may be useful in constructing many other endohedral fullerenes.

Abstract The efficiency of polymer solar cells (PSCs) can be essentially enhanced by improving the performance of electron‐acceptor materials, including by increasing the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level, improving the optical absorption, and tuning the material solubility. Here, a new soluble C 70 derivative, dihydronaphthyl‐based C 70 bisadduct (NC 70 BA), is synthesized and explored as acceptor in PSCs. The NC 70 BA has high LUMO energy level that is 0.2 eV higher than [6,6]‐phenyl‐C 61 ‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), and displays broad light absorption in the visible region. Consequently, the PSC based on the blend of poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and NC 70 BA shows a high open‐circuit voltage ( V oc = 0.83 V) and a high power conversion efficiency (PCE = 5.95%), which are much better than those of the P3HT:PCBM‐based device ( V oc = 0.60 V; PCE = 3.74%). Moreover, the amorphous nature of NC 70 BA effectively suppresses the thermally driven crystallization, leading to high thermal stability of the P3HT:NC 70 BA‐based solar cell devices. It is observed that the P3HT:NC 70 BA‐based device retains 80% of its original PCE value against thermal heating at 150 °C over 20 h. The results unambiguously indicate that the NC 70 BA is a promising acceptor material for practical PSCs.

We present a metal carbide clusterfullerene Sc2C2@Cs(10528)-C72, whose structure has been baffling for many years. A motional endohedral Sc2C2 cluster, special molecule geometry and electronic structure were found in Sc2C2@Cs(10528)-C72. The paramagnetic Sc2C2@Cs-C72 anion radical was successfully prepared by a chemical reduction method and hyperfine couplings in the ESR spectrum were observed.

Following the first isolation of Sc3NC@C80, a second member of this family of endohedral metallofullerenes, Sc3NC@C78, was prepared by an arc-discharging method. Experimental and theoretical studies demonstrated that the Sc3NC@C78 has a C78-C2 cage with two pairs of adjacent pentagons, which is different from the IPR-satisfying Sc3N@C78-D3h. It was revealed that the size of C78-D3h is appropriate for the Sc3N cluster, but not large enough for encaging the large planar species Sc3NC. Theoretical calculations were preformed on Sc3NC@C78-C2 and Sc3NC@C78-D3h. The results show that Sc3NC would bear a strong depression inside the C78-D3h fullerene cage due to the limited internal space of C78-D3h; on the contrary, C78-C2 has two pairs of adjacent pentagons that induce a large curvature in these sites to form an oblate ellipsoid structure. Thus, it is more favorable to encapsulate the planar species Sc3NC. Ab initio calculations were also performed to further disclose the electronic and electrochemical properties of Sc3NC@C78-C2. It was revealed that the molecule has an electronic structure of (Sc3+)3(NC)3–@C786–, in which the inner species NC has an unprecedented (NC)3– trianion charging status similar to that in the recently reported Sc3NC@C80-Ih.