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How to understand the effect of the surface microstructures and chemical compositions on the anticoagulant properties is the key to develop novel anticoagulant materials. In view of the special surface microstructures and low surface free energy of superhydrophobic materials, it is expected that excellent anticoagulant properties can be obtained from superhydrophobic materials. Here, various nanocone‐shaped ZnO films were prepared by electrochemical deposition method followed by hydrothermal method and modified with n‐dodecyl mercaptan. Ordered nanocone‐shaped ZnO arrays are easier to obtain under suitable preparation conditions and can exhibit superhydrophobicity. The surface wettability is related to the ratio of the diameter and spacing (d/l) of ZnO nanocones. When the d/l value is 0.25–0.55, the contact angle (CA) is consistent with the Cassie mode; when the d/l value is 0.55–0.65, it corresponds to the Wenzel mode. Although the d/l value of the nanocones cannot directly determine the value of the surface free energy, which is strongly associated with the contact mode of the droplets on the film surface. Furthermore, the relationship among surface morphology, CA, and surface free energy is established, and the influence of surface morphology and surface free energy on blood contacting with foreign bodies is explored. It is found that the surface wettability of blood contacting with foreign bodies has some characteristics similar to that of general fluids. For example, under the same contact mode, although the CA of blood on the surface of ZnO nanofilms is about 20° smaller than that of water on the whole, the variation of CA with surface roughness is the same as that of general fluids. However, it also has some unique characteristics, such as the surface of ZnO nanofilms modified with hydrophobic material, the CA becomes larger. These characteristics are of special significance for the development of blood compatibility of superhydrophobic nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anticoagulant properties of materials are easily affected by the surface properties, which provide belief for designing and developing effective anticoagulant materials to achieve long‐term stable application of blood‐contacting implants and devices. Here, various nanocone‐shaped ZnO films were prepared by simple electrochemical deposition followed by hydrothermal method, and modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG10000, a hydrophilic substance). The influence of surface morphology and surface free energy on the anticoagulant properties of ZnO nanofilms was explored. Both hydrophilic (CA < 40°, surface modified with PEG10000) and superhydrophobic (CA > 150°, surface with rough needle‐like structure) ZnO nanofilms have good anticoagulant properties. Compared with the free energy of the film surface, the surface microstructure of ZnO nanofilms has a greater impact on the anticoagulant properties. After the ZnO nanofilms were modified with PEG, the contact model of water on the surface conforms to the Wenzel model instead of the Cassie model. The number of adhesive platelets was largely reduced, and the hemolysis rate is less than 5%, indicating the better blood compatibility. These characteristics are of special significance for the development of nanomaterials with good anticoagulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the effect of ZnO nanoparticle on thermal, microstructure, mechanical behavior, superhydrophobicity of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), ZnO/TPU composite materials with doped‐ZnO nanoparticles were obtained via a solution blending method. The results show that the melting temperature region in soft segments of ZnO/TPU composite materials was the transition temperature region. The added ZnO slightly enhances the crystalline slipped of ZnO/TPU composite materials, and effectively hinder the transfer of high temperature small gas molecules. Due to the added ZnO nanoparticles, the microphase separation and ordered structures in TPU are reduced. In TPU, and between TPU and ZnO nanoparticles, there are variations in electron density at hard phase and soft phase interfaces. The good ZnO/TPU composites exhibit high water repellence with water contact angle of ~157°. The prepared ZnO/TPU nanocomposites show mechanical properties that are superior to those of pristine TPU. Tensile strength and storage modulus increase by 47.1% and 39.8% at ZnO loading values of 10 wt%. The results indicate that thermal behavior, microstructure, superhydrophobicity and the mechanical behavior of TPU composite materials can be enhanced by the doped ZnO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of bionics, such as, geckos and virginia creeper with both superhydrophobic and super‐adhesive, the surface wetting and super‐adhesive properties of various porous materials have attracted extensive attention of the scientific and medical communities. Here, the honeycomb polyurethane (PU) porous films with strong adhesion were successfully prepared by microphase separation method and the effects of growth parameters on their microstructure and adhesive strength to ice were investigated. It was found that a high relative humidity (e.g., 100%) and a low solution concentration (e.g., 2%) facilitated the formation of ordered honeycomb PU porous films, and as‐prepared PU pores with average pore diameter as small as 5 μm are better ordered and more uniform than these in related documents. Although the contact angle of water droplets on the surface of PU porous films increased from the premodification value of 85–130° to more than 160° after surface modification with polydopamine (PDA), the corresponding rolling angle remained approximately constant (180°), indicating that the surface of PU porous films has strong adhesion similar to geckos and virginia creeper. Furthermore, at lower temperature, the PU porous films exhibited the high adhesive strength of 142.13 kPa on ice, which was strongly dependent on the porous microstructures and surface compositions. The improved adhesive behavior to ice of honeycomb PU porous films modified with PDA provides new strategies for surface modification of materials and potential applications in medical domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have reported that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) dysregulation is involved in the progression of many malignant tumors, including glioma. The lncRNA ZNFX1 antisense RNA 1 (ZFAS1) plays an oncogenic role in various malignant tumors, such as gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of ZFAS1 in glioma has not been fully clarified. In this study, we found that the expression of ZFAS1 was upregulated in both glioma tissues and cell lines. Functional experiments revealed that ZFAS1 promoted glioma proliferation, migration and invasion, and increased resistance to temozolomide in vitro. By using online databases, RNA pull‐down assays and luciferase reporter assays, ZFAS1 was demonstrated to act as a sponge of miR‐150‐5p. Furthermore, proteolipid protein 2 (PLP2) was shown to be the functional target of miR‐150‐5p. Rescue experiments revealed that ZFAS1 regulated the expression of PLP2 by sponging miR‐150‐5p. Finally, a xenograft tumor assay demonstrated that ZFAS1 promoted glioma growth in vivo. Our results showed that ZFAS1 promoted glioma malignant progression by regulating the miR‐150‐5p/PLP2 axis, which may provide a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bimetallic AgPd nanoparticles have been synthesized before, but the interfacial electronic effects of AgPd on the photocatalytic performance have been investigated less. In this work, the results of hydrogen evolution suggest that the bimetallic AgPd/g‐C3N4 sample has superior activity to Ag/g‐C3N4 and Pd/g‐C3N4 photocatalysts. The UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, CO adsorption diffuse reflectance FTIR spectroscopy, and FTIR results demonstrate that in the AgPd/g‐C3N4, the surface electronic structures of Pd and Ag are changed, which is beneficial for faster photogenerated electron transfer and greater H2O molecule adsorption. In situ ESR spectra suggest that, under visible light irradiation, there is more H2O dissociation to radical species on the AgPd/g‐C3N4 photocatalyst. Furthermore, DFT calculations confirm the interfacial electronic effects of AgPd/g‐C3N4, that is, Pdδ−⋅⋅⋅Agδ+, and the activation energy of H2O molecule dissociation on AgPd/g‐C3N4 is the lowest, which is the main contributor to the enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution. Bimetallic photocatalysts: Bimetallic AgPd nanoparticles are loaded on g‐C3N4 for photocatalytic H2 evolution. The resultant AgPd/g‐C3N4 shows superior activity to the monometallic Ag/g‐C3N4 and Pd/g‐C3N4. The interfacial interaction between the metals is beneficial in accelerating photogenerated electron transfer, H2O molecule adsorption, and H2O dissociation, leading to enhanced photocatalytic H2O reduction to H2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of TiO2 hollow sphere catalysts with or without nonmetal (B,P) dopants and Ag-modification were prepared through a sol-gel process with styrene-methyl methacrylate copolymer (PSMMA) microspheres as the template. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS), and UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV/Vis DRS), and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by degradation of methylene blue (MB). Both B and P dopants could narrow the band gap of the TiO2 catalyst, and the loaded Ag only played the role of photoelectron transmitter. The two effects of the nonmetal dopants and the loaded Ag improved the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 hollow spheres. Moreover, the hollow sphere structure and oxygen vacancies were beneficial to photocatalysis. Among all the catalysts prepared, Ag-modified (B,P)-codoped TiO2 hollow spheres exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]