Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials

• Deposition methods govern the electrochemical performance of modified electrode • Structured protocol links electrode surface characterization to electrochemistry • Inkjet printing yields uniform functionalization versus drop-casting on electrodes • Coverage uniformity and layer thickness explain impedance and voltammetric response • Electrochemical response follows accessible active sites, not deposited mass The performance of functionalized electrochemical sensors is commonly linked to the intrinsic properties of the material used for electrode surface modification. However, the role of the deposition method itself is often overlooked, even though it critically defines the interfacial structure and batch-to-batch reproducibility. In addition, electrode functionalization is rarely accompanied by comprehensive surface characterization, which limits mechanistic interpretation and transferability of results. Here, we introduce a structured, multiscale characterization framework that isolates how deposition methods define the electrochemical interface on printed electrodes. A commercial screen-printed carbon electrode platform was functionalized with nitrogen-doped graphene acid using conventional drop-casting and inkjet printing as a controlled deposition strategy. Complementary local and electrode-scale analyses were used to quantify film homogeneity, thickness distribution, microtopography, wetting behavior, and coating integrity. These interfacial descriptors were systematically correlated with electrochemical performance using impedance spectroscopy and voltammetric benchmarking. Inkjet printing produced thin, laterally uniform coatings with enhanced wetting and significantly reduced electrode-to-electrode variability. In contrast, drop-casting resulted in edge-enriched films dominated by coffee-ring drying and pronounced interfacial heterogeneity. The electrochemical response was governed by the spatial accessibility and distribution of the functional layer rather than by the nominal deposited mass. This positions deposition technique among primary design parameters in electrochemical sensor development. The framework presented here provides a practical characterization and reporting protocol that supports reproducible and mechanistically interpretable optimization of functionalized electrochemical interfaces. Electrochemical performance is governed by how a functional layer is structured and coupled to the electrode: continuity, electronic connectivity, and mechanical robustness determine kinetics and reproducibility. Spatially resolved, complementary interface characterization is essential to translate surface architecture into reliable device performance.

Back Cover In article number e00746, Zboril, Jayaramulu, Yoon, and co-workers engineered a uniform and pinhole free ZnO–PTFE@ZIF-8 based triboelectric nanogenerator that exhibits exceptional pressure and humidity sensing with an exponential response at high relative humidity. The device delivers outstanding triboelectric output and reliable performance across diverse pressure and humidity ranges making it highly suitable for self-powered sensors in smart wearables and environmental monitoring applications.

Lipid confined systems, such as organelles or lipid‐based delivery carriers, play a pivotal role in human health and disease, which makes them highly significant to biotechnology research. While modern imaging techniques can reach nanometer‐scale resolution, they provide only static snapshots and must be complemented by approaches capable of capturing dynamic structural changes in a lipid confined system. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can address this need by offering up to atomistic detail at femtosecond resolution and enabling access to dynamics on timescales up to milliseconds, thereby complementing the experimental data. With the rapid growth of high‐performance computing capabilities, accessible temporal and spatial scales are expanding, bringing the era of computational microscopy within reach. In this article, we highlight the key challenges that remain on the path toward this vision. We overview model construction protocols based on a modular building‐block approach, together with dynamic 3D time‐resolved data extraction, analysis, and visualization workflows. Such strategies will allow the scientific community to fully exploit high‐performance computing resources and move closer to a truly computational microscopy era. With these tools in hand, MD simulations will significantly broaden their utility for experimentalists, not only in visualization but also in high throughput computational screening and experiment design.

The rapid advancement of supercapacitor technologies has intensified the demand for sustainable electrode fabrication methods that minimize environmental impact. A major challenge arises from the extensive use of the toxic solvent N -methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), which is subject to increasingly stringent regulatory restrictions. We demonstrate that NMP can be effectively replaced with two green solvents, dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene) and N-butyl-2-pyrrolidone (Tamisolve), without compromising electrochemical performance. Electrode formulations were prepared using nitrogen-doped graphene as the active material, in combination with either polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a widely employed fluorinated binder, or polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), a non-fluorinated alternative with improved environmental profile. Optimized coatings exhibited high mass loadings exceeding 6 mg cm −2 while maintaining strong adhesion to current collectors, an often overlooked yet critical parameter for scalable manufacturing. Electrochemical testing revealed that PVDF in Cyrene delivered an energy density of 66.6 Wh kg −1 at a power density of 1.85 kW kg −1 , with excellent cycling stability, retaining 91 % of capacitance after 100,000 cycles. PVP in Cyrene provided a more environmentally benign alternative, achieving an energy density of 64.2 Wh kg −1 at 1.80 kW kg −1 , with 78 % capacitance retention after 100,000 cycles, thereby highlighting the trade-off between performance and sustainability. • Green solvents Cyrene and Tamisolve successfully replace toxic NMP. • High-mass (>6 mg cm −2 ) loading electrodes with strong adhesion were manufactured. • PVDF-Cyrene electrodes achieved energy density of 66.6 Wh kg −1 . • PVP-Cyrene electrodes energy density of 64.2 Wh kg −1 .

Abstract The paper explores the role and legal protection of vulnerability reporters, namely cybersecurity researchers within the evolving EU cybersecurity framework. It examines who these researchers are, the value of their work, and the growing legal risks they face across Europe, as demonstrated by high-profile cases in the Netherlands, Malta, and Germany. Drawing on international human rights frameworks including EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the paper argues that security research should be protected under the right to science and the freedom to conduct research. The paper advocates for defining ‘good-faith security research’ as a legally recognized safe harbour in EU law. A comparative analysis of selected international and EU legal frameworks, such as the UN Convention Against Cybercrime, Budapest Convention, EU Directive on attacks against information systems, the Cybersecurity Act, the NIS2 Directive, the Cyber Resilience Act, and national policies of a selected group of EU Member States, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Malta along with the UK and the USA, reveals fragmented and insufficient protection. To address this, the paper calls for a coherent EU-wide framework based on two interlinked pillars: (i) mandatory coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD) procedures, and (ii) substantive legal exemptions for ethical security research. While the recent NIS2 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 for entities from digital infrastructure is a step forward, it lacks explicit protection for researchers. Therefore, the paper concludes with a call for integrating legal and technical safe harbours into EU cybersecurity legislation to ensure that vulnerability disclosure policies are not only adopted by entities but are also legally accessible and safe for the researchers, who rely on them.

Plant vascular systems exhibit a wide developmental spectrum, from rigid woody tissues to soft, fleshy storage tissues. We show that increasing polyamine thermospermine transport into wild‑type rootstocks, together with cytokinin, reprograms xylem identity from woody to fleshy in Arabidopsis. Our findings establish thermospermine as a mobile developmental signal and suggest a strategy for engineering plant vascular architecture.

Abstract D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) represents a promising and well-characterized enzyme for the ‘enzyme-activated prodrug therapy’, one of the newest frontiers for anticancer treatment. This flavoprotein catalyzes the deamination of D-amino acids with production of hydrogen peroxide, a reactive oxygen species (ROS) able to favor cells death. In this preliminary work, promising drug delivery systems based on nanodiamonds (NDs) were designed to target DAAO specifically to the tumor site following possible future injection in the blood stream. NDs were functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG), hyaluronic acid (HA) and poly(glycerol monomethacrylate) (PGMA), to reduce aggregation and improve biocompatibility. Different conjugates were obtained by DAAO adsorption on the NDs surface. The interaction with human serum proteins was evaluated in vitro, and the formation of the protein corona (PC) was investigated via nLC-MS/MS, aiming to characterize both soft and hard corona. Because the PC provides a biological identity to the conjugates and influences their fate in vivo, this study may contribute to investigate preliminary in vitro properties of functionalized nanoparticles, conjugated with well-characterized enzyme. The cytotoxicity and the oxidative stress of the designed conjugates, induced by hydrogen peroxide, were tested on two different tumor and two different healthy cell lines, as controls. The contribution of the PC to both cytotoxicity and oxidative stress was also evaluated. Among all investigated NDs-DAAO conjugates, PEG-NDs-DAAO seemed to exhibit promising antitumor characteristics: a biocompatible PC may contribute to potentially prolong blood circulation time and the increased cytotoxicity against human breast cancer cells (SKBR3, viability of 34%) could be probably favored by interaction of PEG-NDs-DAAO-PC with tumor cells. The presence of specific proteins, like serotransferrin and Inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H2, could potentially play a crucial role in cell membrane adhesion.