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The text is an editorial from the Journal of Materials Science discussing a cover paper titled "High-performance, water-resistant and ion-conducting gel used as underwater ECG electrodes" by Shi et al. The paper addresses the challenges of sensing underwater and describes the synthesis and characterization of a single-layer hydrogel electrode that is resistant to swelling in water. The paper is accessible to non-experts and includes photographs, curves, and electrocardiograms to support the findings. Although the article is not open access, it can be accessed through a SharedIt link provided by the publisher. [Extracted from the article]

The hydrogel in this paper is designed to do just that, by using controlled release from a hydrogel to deliver the drug quickly and at a relatively high concentration to the interior of cancer cells. The paper describes the synthesis and in-vitro testing of a hydrogel composite that is designed to maximize toxicity to cancer cells by both efficiently delivering the cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) and overheating the cells with magnetically induced hyperthermia. This makes it highly desirable to develop a delivery system that can encapsulate the drug, bring the drug directly to the cancer cells then release the drug into the cancer tumor or cells. [Extracted from the article]

A droplet forming microfluidic chip was used to create droplets of precisely controlled size that contained a photocurable monomer as well as nanoparticles of magnetite and manganese dioxide. Manganese dioxide nanoparticles were shown to be effective for decomposing hydrogen peroxide to form oxygen bubbles that provided propulsion, which increased the rate of methylene blue decomposition by the magnetite nanoparticles through enhanced mixing. Dissolving the alginate fiber released the microparticles that contain base-metal catalysts for both the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, and methylene blue, a common water contaminant [[2]]. [Extracted from the article]

The ongoing pursuit of multifunctional soft materials that can impact a wide range of technological challenges, ranging from information processing to energy storage and transducing devices, has resulted in the development of hybrid materials composed of nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in polymers. Beyond the simple preparation of composites that have the additive value of the individual components, this review discusses recent work and trends in composites that exhibit novel synergistic or emergent properties arising from combining the components. In particular, we highlight recent examples of composites in which NP assembly within polymers leads to enhancement or changes of the NP properties and how introducing NPs into a polymer can cause significant changes in the polymer's intrinsic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new low-cost synthesis of brookite TiO2nanoparticles using isopropanol as both the solvent and ligand is described here. Other ligands can be bound to the titania surface during or postsynthesis to tailor the particles’ functionality. The often extremely rapid hydrolysis of titanium isopropoxide has been successfully controlled so that nanoparticle growth is achieved. The resulting 4-nm particles are nonagglomerated, stable in solution, and have a low polydispersity. The synthesis is scalable and enables the simple fabrication of large amounts of titania nanoparticles that do not scatter visible light and are highly suited for incorporation into optical composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]