Bad water solubility and undesired toxicity of triptolide (TP) still restrict its clinical applications in renal diseases. In this work, well-defined, monodispersed, and uniform-sized TP-encapsulated mesoscale nanoparticles (TP-MNPs) were fabricated through a nanoprecipitation method, which possesses special kidney-targeting capacity, slow-release property, and high-efficiency treatment for renal ischaemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). The TP-MNPs had good cytocompatibility in wide TP concentration (0–500 ng ml⁻¹) and time ranges (6–24 h). Ex vivo organ fluorescence imaging and pharmacokinetic analysis suggested that TP-MNPs possessed excellent kidney-targeting capability with long retention time (7 days). The TP-MNPs with a very low dose of TP (0.01 mg kg⁻¹) could effectively protect the kidney against IRI, while 0.01 mg kg⁻¹ TP was completely ineffective. After treatment with TP-MNPs, the serum creatine, blood urea nitrogen, expression of C3 complement, and phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase of renal IRI mice were estimated to be 5.9-, 2.0-, 5.4-, and 2.8-fold lower than those of the mice treated with TP, respectively. Compared with TP, the TP-MNPs exhibited ignorable hepatotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and immunotoxicity, such as lower alanine aminotransferase (0.5 fold) and aspartate aminotransferase (0.2 fold), and a higher ratio of CD⁴⁺/CD⁸⁺ (2.2 fold). Thus, the monodispersed and uniform-sized TP-MNPs with special kidney-targeting and slow-release property may pave an avenue for designing a new therapeutic strategy for renal diseases.

The design and architecture of programmable metal–semiconductor nanostructures with excellent optoelectronic properties from metal and semiconductor building blocks with nanoscale dimensions have been a key aim of material scientists due to their central roles in the fabrication of electronic, optical, and optoelectronic nanodevices. This review focuses on the latest advances in the solution-phase synthesis of metal and/or semiconductor homojunction/heterojunction nanomaterials. It begins with the simplest construction of metal/metal and semiconductor/semiconductor homojunctions, and then highlights the synthetic design of metal/metal and semiconductor/semiconductor heterojunction nanostructures with different building blocks. Special emphasis is placed on metal/semiconductor heterojunction nanomaterials, which are the most challenging and promising nanomaterials for future applications in optoelectronic nanodevices. Finally, this review concludes with personal perspectives on the directions for future research in this field.

A W-doping-induced phase transition strategy was reported to construct heterojunctions. W doping can not only regulate the morphology of the catalysts but also induce to form W-Ni₃S₂/Ni₇S₆ heterojunction which is a promising OER catalyst.

Nanoplated lanthanum-substituted bismuth titanate (Bi_3.25La_0.75Ti₃O₁₂, BLTO) microspheres constructed with tens of BLTO nanoplates were synthesized by a sol–gel hydrothermal method. Using nanoplated BLTO microspheres, a novel third-generation H₂O₂ biosensor was fabricated with loading of myoglobin (Mb) and chitosan (Chi). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements reveal that partial Bi ions of bismuth titanate (BTO, Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂) are successfully substituted with La ions by the sol–gel hydrothermal method. UV-visible (UV-vis) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra show that Mb encapsulated in the Mb–Chi–BLTO film can retain its bioactivity well. Comparative experiments witness that the Mb–Chi–BLTO biosensor, compared with the Mb–Chi–BTO biosensor, not only has enhanced direct electron-transfer capacity (e.g., stronger redox peak currents (approximately 3-fold) and a larger heterogeneous electron-transfer rate constant of 12.8 ± 3.3 s⁻¹), but also exhibits a wider linear response to H₂O₂ in the concentration range of 2–490 μM, higher sensitivity (88 mA cm⁻² M⁻¹), a lower Michaelis–Menten constant (0.55 mM) and detection limit (0.14 μM), a shorter response time (2.8 s), and better reproducibility and stability. These results imply that La doping greatly improves electrochemical and electrocatalytic properties of the Mb–Chi–BLTO biosensor, which will open up a new idea for the design of third-generation electrochemical biosensors, and the BLTO-based biosensors are also expected to find potential applications in many areas such as clinical diagnosis and food and environmental detection.