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In bone tissue engineering, it is imperative to design multifunctional biomaterials that can induce and assemble bonelike apatite that is close to natural bone. In this study, graphene oxide (GO) was functionalized by carrageenan. The resulting GO-carrageenan (GO-Car) composite was further used as a substrate for biomimetic and cell-mediated mineralization of hydroxyapatite (HA). It was confirmed that carrageenan on the GO surface facilitated the nucleation of HA. The observation of the effect of the GO-Car on the adhesion, morphology, and proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells was investigated. In vitro studies clearly show the effectiveness of GO-Car in promoting HA mineralization and cell differentiation. The results of this study suggested that the GO-Car hybrid will be a promising material for bone regeneration and implantation.

We have successfully fabricated and tested the electrochemical performance of supercapacitor electrodes consisting of Ni(OH)2 nanosheets coated on NiCo2O4 nanosheets grown on carbon fiber paper (CFP) current collectors. When the NiCo2O4 nanosheets are replaced by Co3O4 nanosheets, however, the energy and power density as well as the rate capability of the electrodes are significantly reduced, most likely due to the lower conductivity of Co3O4 than that of NiCo2O4. The 3D hybrid composite Ni(OH)2/NiCo2O4/CFP electrodes demonstrate a high areal capacitance of 5.2 F/cm(2) at a cycling current density of 2 mA/cm(2), with a capacitance retention of 79% as the cycling current density was increased from 2 to 50 mA/cm(2). The remarkable performance of these hybrid composite electrodes implies that supercapacitors based on them have potential for many practical applications.

A novel selective fluorescent chemosensor based on an 8-hydroxyquinoline-appended fluorescein derivative (L1) was synthesized and characterized. Once combined with Cu(2+), it displayed high specificity for sulfide anion. Among the various anions, only sulfide anion induced the revival of fluoresecence of L1, which was quenched by Cu(2+), resulting in "off-on"-type sensing of sulfide anion. What's more, the sensor was retrievable to indicate sulfide anions with Cu(2+), and S(2-), in turn, increased. With the addition of Cu(2+), compound L1 could give rise to a visible pink-to-yellow color change and green fluorescence quenching. The resulting yellow solution could change to pink and regenerate to green fluorescence immediately upon the addition of sulfide anion; however, no changes were observed in the presence of other anions, including CN(-), P(2)O(7)(4-), and other forms of sulfate, making compound L1 an extremely selective and efficient sulfide chemosensor. The signal transduction occurs via reversible formation-separation of complex L1Cu and CuS. What's more, the biological imaging study has demonstrated that the chemosensor can detect sulfur anions in biological systems at a relatively low concentration.

In this study, we present the synthesis of reduced graphene oxide/hydroxyapatite (RGO/HA) hybrid materials by an environmental-friendly route. Graphene oxide (GO) was first simultaneously reduced and surface functionalized by one-step oxidative polymerization of dopamine (PDA). The bioinspired surface was further used for biomimetic mineralization of hydroxyapatite. When incubated in a simulated body fluid (SBF), the PDA layer enabled efficient interaction between the RGO surface and the mineral ions to improve the bioactivity, promoted the formation of the HA nanoparticles. A detailed structural and morphological characterization of the mineralized composite was performed. The HA-based hybrid materials exhibited no cytotoxic effect on L929 fibroblast cells, showing potential capacity of being a scaffold material for bone tissue regeneration and implantation. This facile strategy also can be a useful platform for other RGO-based nanocomposites.

Various fluorescent nanoparticles have been applied in imaging of tissues or intracellular structures. Searching for biocompatible nanoparticles that can be observed under visible light is of fundamental importance for the applications in living cells. In this study, a simple, template-based route for the synthesis of fluorescent hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles has been developed. Well-dispersed HA nanoparticles prepared by using SiO2 as templates (THA) were surface-functionalized with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), resulting in bright and stable fluorescent particles (THA-FITC). These fluorescent nanoparticles were demonstrated to be internalized into Hela cells and have no apparent cytotoxic effects on fibroblast cells, which confirmed the biocompatibility and cell labeling capability of the nanoparticles. Due to the large surface areas, porous nature, and visible light excited luminescence characters, THA-FITC nanoparticles will have applications in fields such as cell labeling, whole animal imag...