Regenerated silk fibroin (RSF), made from discarded silk cocoons, can be processed into regenerated silk fibers by a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly wet-spinning process. However, the breaking strength and toughness of most RSF fibers are lower than those of natural silk. In this study, Ag nanoparticles (NPs) of different sizes were introduced into RSF to form RSF/AgNPs hybrid fibers by wet spinning. The effects of AgNPs of different sizes on the mechanical properties and structure of the hybrid fibers were investigated. The results demonstrated that the mechanical properties of hybrid fibers were significantly improved, especially the breaking strain, after the addition of four different sizes of AgNPs. With the reduction in AgNPs size (2–60 nm), the breaking strength and breaking strain of hybrid fibers tended to increase. The results showed that the hybrid fibers containing 2 nm AgNPs were remarkable, with excellent mechanical properties and toughness, and the breaking strain reached 138.27%, which was far greater than blank RSF fibers (15.02%) and even natural silk (about 21%). The S-FTIR and WAXD showed that, compared with the larger AgNPs, the smaller AgNPs contributed more to the formation of silk fibroin β-sheet and crystallinity, and reduced the β-crystallite size. This study is helpful to understand the relationship between the size of nanoparticles and the mechanical properties of hybrid fibers.

Ferroptosis, a unique form of iron-dependent cell death triggered by lipid peroxidation accumulation, holds great promise for cancer therapy. Despite the crucial role of GPX4 in regulating ferroptosis, our understanding of GPX4 protein regulation remains limited. Through FACS-based genome-wide CRISPR screening, we identified MALT1 as a regulator of GPX4 protein. Inhibition of MALT1 expression enhances GPX4 ubiquitination-mediated degradation by up-regulating the E3 ubiquitin ligase RC3H1. Using both rescue assays and functional genetic screening, we demonstrate that pharmacologically targeting MALT1 triggers ferroptosis in liver cancer cells. Moreover, we show that targeting MALT1 synergizes with sorafenib or regorafenib to induce ferroptosis across multiple cancer types. These findings elucidate the modulatory effects of the MALT1–RC3H1 axis on GPX4 stability, revealing a molecular mechanism that could be exploited to induce ferroptosis for cancer therapy.

Defect engineering is recognized as an effective route to obtain highly active photocatalytic materials. However, the current understanding of defects is mainly limited to isolated atomic vacancy defects, ignoring the exploration of the functions of multivariate defects formed by the deletion of several adjacent atoms in photocatalytic system. Here, we prepared SnS₂ nanostructures with the same morphology but different dominant defects, and by testing their photocatalytic performance, it was found that the multivariate defects can significantly improve the photocatalytic performance than isolated S vacancies. Combining experiments and theoretical calculations, we confirmed that the promotion of multivariate defects, especially “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates, on the photocatalytic performance is reflected in many aspects, such as the regulation of the energy band structure, the improvement of the charge separation efficiency, and the promotion of the adsorption and activation of guest molecules. SnS₂ with “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates exhibits excellent photocatalytic water purification ability. Under the induction of “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates, phenol was thoroughly photocatalytically decomposed, further confirming its excellent functionality. This work not only provides new insights into identifying advantage defects in the catalyst structure, but also offers new ideas for constructing highly active photocatalysts based on defect engineering.

The shortage of water resources has always been one of the most difficult problems that perplexes humanity. Solar steam generation (SSG) has been a new non-polluting and low-cost water purification method in recent years. However, the high cost of traditional photothermal conversion materials and the low efficiency of photothermal conversion has restricted the large-scale application of SSG technology. In this work, composite materials with Fe₃O₄ nanospheres attached to MoS₂ nanosheets were synthesized, which increased the absorbance and specific surface area of the composite materials, reduced the sunlight reflection, and increased the photothermal conversion efficiency. During the experiment, the composite material was evenly coated on cotton. The strong water absorption of cotton ensured that the water could be transported sufficiently to the surface for evaporation. Under one sun irradiation intensity, the evaporation rate of the sample synthesized in this work reached 1.42 kg m⁻² h⁻¹; the evaporation efficiency is 89.18%. In addition, the surface temperature of the sample can reach 41.6 °C, which has far exceeded most photothermal conversion materials. Furthermore, the use of this composite material as an SSG device for seawater desalination and sewage purification can remove more than 98% of salt ions in seawater, and the removal rate of heavy metal ions in sewage is close to 100%, with a good seawater desalination capacity and sewage purification capacity. This work provides a new idea for the application of composite materials in the field of seawater desalination and sewage purification.