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In this article, it is shown that by exposing commonly used lipids for biomembrane mimicking studies, to a solution containing the histidine-rich intrinsically disordered protein histatin 5, a protein cushion spontaneously forms underneath the bilayer. The underlying mechanism is attributed to have an electrostatic origin, and it is hypothesized that the observed behavior is due to proton charge fluctuations promoting attractive electrostatic interactions between the positively charged proteins and the anionic surfaces, with concomitant counterion release. Hence, we anticipate that this novel "green" approach of forming cushioned bilayers can be an important tool to mimic the cell membrane without the disturbance of the solid substrate, thereby achieving a further understanding of protein-cell interactions.

Intercalation of dyes into thin multilayered graphene oxide (GO) films was studied by neutron reflectivity and X-ray diffraction. Methylene blue (MB) penetrates the interlayer space of GO in ethanol solution and remains intercalated after the solvent evaporation, as revealed by the expansion of the interlayer lattice and change in chemical composition. The sorption of MB by thin GO films is found to be significantly stronger compared to the sorption of Crystal violet (CV) and Rose bengal (RB). This effect is attributed to the difference in the geometrical shape of planar MB and essentially nonflat CV and RB molecules. Graphite oxides and restacked GO films are found to exhibit different methylene blue (MB) sorptions. MB sorption by precursor graphite oxide and thin spin-coated films of GO is significantly stronger compared to freestanding micrometer-thick membranes prepared by vacuum filtration. Nevertheless, the sorption capacity of GO membranes is sufficient to remove a significant part of the MB from diluted solutions tested for permeation in several earlier studies. High sorption capacity results in strong modification of the GO structure, which is likely to affect permeation properties of GO membranes. Therefore, MB is not suitable for testing size exclusion effects in the permeation of GO membranes. It is not only hydration or solvation diameter but also the exact geometrical shape of molecules that needs to be taken into account considering size effects for penetration of molecules between GO layers in membrane applications.

Surfactants are important components of oral care products. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is the most common because of its foaming properties, taste and low cost. However, the use of ionic surfactants, especially SDS, is related to several oral mucosa conditions. Thus, there is a high interest in using non-ionic and amphoteric surfactants as they are less irritant. To better understand the performance of these surfactants in oral care products, we investigated their interaction with salivary pellicles i.e., the proteinaceous films that cover surfaces exposed to saliva. Specifically, we focused on pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C12E5) and cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) as model nonionic and amphoteric surfactants respectively, and investigated their interaction with reconstituted salivary pellicles with various surface techniques: Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation, Ellipsometry, Force Spectroscopy and Neutron Reflectometry. Both C12E5 and CAPB were gentler on pellicles than SDS, removing a lower amount. However, their interaction with pellicles differed. Our work indicates that CAPB would mainly interact with the mucin components of pellicles, leading to collapse and dehydration. In contrast, exposure to C12E5 had a minimal effect on the pellicles, mainly resulting in the replacement/solubilisation of some of the components anchoring pellicles to their substrate.

Hypothesis: Salivary pellicles i.e., thin films formed upon selective adsorption of saliva, protect oral surfaces against chemical and mechanical insults. Pellicles are also excellent aqueous lubricants. It is generally accepted that reconstituted pellicles have a two-layer structure, where the outer layer is mainly composed of MUC5B mucins. We hypothesized that by comparing the effect of ionic strength on reconstituted pellicles and MUC5B films we could gain further insight into the pellicle structure.\ud \ud Experiments: Salivary pellicles and MUC5B films reconstituted on solid surfaces were investigated at different ionic strengths by Force Spectroscopy, Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation, Null Ellipsometry and Neutron Reflectometry.\ud \ud Findings: Our results support the two-layer structure for reconstituted salivary pellicles. The outer layer swelled when ionic strength decreased, indicating a weak polyelectrolyte behavior. While initially the MUC5B films exhibited a similar tendency, this was followed by a drastic collapse indicating an interaction between exposed hydrophobic domains. This suggests that mucins in the pellicle outer layer form complexes with other salivary components that prevent this interaction. Lowering ionic strength below physiological values also led to a partial removal of the pellicle inner layer. Overall, our results highlight the importance that the interactions of mucins with other pellicle components play on their structure.

Permeation of multilayered graphene oxide (GO) membranes by polar solvents is known to correlate with their swelling properties and amount of sorbed solvent. However, quantitative estimation of sorption using standard (e.g., gravimetric) methods is technically challenging for few nanometers thick GO membranes/films exposed to solvent vapors. Neutron reflectivity (NR) was used here to evaluate the amount of solvents intercalated into the film which consists of only ∼31.5 layers of GO. Analysis of NR data recorded from the GO film exposed to vapors of polar solvents provides information about change of film thickness due to swelling, amount of intercalated solvent, and selectivity in sorption of solvents from binary mixtures. A quantitative study of GO film sorption was performed for D2O, d-methanol, ethanol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile, dimethylformamide (DMF), and acetone. Using isotopic contrast, we estimated selectivity in sorption of ethanol/d-methanol mixtures by the GO film. Estimation of sorption selectivity was also performed for D2O/DMF, D2O/DMSO, and D2O/acetonitrile binary mixtures. Sorption of polar solvents was compared for the thin GO film, micrometer thick free standing GO membranes, and graphite oxide powders.

Hydrogen sorption by reduced graphene oxides (r-GO) is not found to increase after decoration with Pd and Pt nanoparticles. Treatments of metal decorated samples using annealing under hydrogen or air were tested as a method to create additional pores by effects of r-GO etching around nanoparticles. Increase of Specific Surface Area (SSA) was observed for some air annealed r-GO samples. However, the same treatments applied to activated r-GO samples with microporous nature and higher surface area result in breakup of structure and dramatic decrease of SSA. Our experiments have not revealed effects which could be attributed to spillover in hydrogen sorption on Pd or Pt decorated graphene. However, we report irreversible chemisorption of hydrogen for some samples which can be mistakenly assigned to spillover if the experiments are incomplete.

Finding an abundant and cost-effective electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolu-tion reaction (HER) is crucial for a global production of hydrogen from water electrolysis. This work reports an except ...

Swelling of Hummers graphene oxide (HGO) membranes in a set of progressively longer liquid alcohols (methanol to 1-nonanol) was studied using synchrotron radiation XRD after air ageing over prolonged periods of time. Both precursor graphite oxides and freshly prepared HGO membranes were found to swell in the whole set of nine liquid alcohols with an increase of interlayer spacing from approximate to 7 angstrom (solvent free) up to approximate to 26 angstrom (in 1-nonanol). A pronounced effect of ageing on swelling in alcohols was found for HGO membranes stored in air. The HGO membranes aged for 0.5-1.5 years show progressively slower swelling kinetics, a non-monotonic decrease of saturated swelling in some alcohols and complete disappearance of swelling for alcohol molecules larger than hexanol. Moreover, the HGO membranes stored under ambient conditions for 5 years showed a nearly complete absence of swelling in all alcohols but preserved swelling in water. In contrast, precursor graphite oxide powder showed unmodified swelling in alcohols even after 4 years of ageing. Since the swelling defines the size of permeation channels, the ageing effect is one of the important parameters which could explain the strong variation in reported filtration/separation properties of GO membranes. The time and conditions of air storage require standardization for better reproducibility of results related to performance of GO membranes in various applications. The ageing of GO membranes can be considered not only as a hindrance/degradation for certain applications, but also as a method to tune the swelling properties of HGO membranes for better selectivity in sorption of solvents and for achieving better selective permeability.

The most common methods to evaluate hydrogen sorption (volumetric and gravimetric) require significant experience and expensive equipment for providing reproducible results. Both methods allow one to measure excess uptake values which are used to calculate the total amount of hydrogen stored inside of a tank as required for applications. Here we propose an easy to use and inexpensive alternative approach which allows one to evaluate directly the weight of hydrogen inside a material-filled test tank. The weight of the same tank filled with compressed hydrogen in the absence of loaded material is used as a reference. We argue that the only parameter which is of importance for hydrogen storage applications is by how much the material improves the total weight of hydrogen inside of the given volume compared to compressed gas. This parameter which we propose to name Gain includes both volumetric and gravimetric characterization of the material; it can be determined directly without knowing the skeletal volume of the material or excess sorption. The feasibility of the Gravimetric Tank (GT) method was tested using several common carbon and Metal Organic Framework (MOF) materials. The best Gain value of ∼12% was found for the Cu-BTC MOF which means that the tank completely filled with this material stores a 12% higher amount of hydrogen compared to H2 gas at the same P-T conditions. The advantages of the GT method are its inexpensive design, extremely simple procedures and direct results in terms of tank capacity as required for industrial applications. The GT method could be proposed as a standard check for verification of the high hydrogen storage capacity of new materials. The GT method is expected to provide even better accuracy for evaluation of a material's performance for storage of denser gases like e.g. CO2 and CH4.

Improving interfacial contact between each component in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) can lead to a significant increase in power density and Pt utilization. In this work, the junction between the catalyst layer and gas diffusion layer (GDL) is greatly enhanced through direct attachment of helical carbon nanofibers, giving rise to a hierarchical structure within the electrical interconnections. The alternative novel GDL is produced by spraying a thin layer of Pd2C60 precursor on commercial carbon paper, followed by chemical vapor deposition growth resulting in a surface morphology of well-attached nanofibers surrounding the microfibers present in the commercial carbon paper. Subsequent solvothermal deposition of platinum nanoparticles allowed evaluation of its suitability as gas diffusion electrode in cathodic H-2/O-2 PEMFC environment. A combination of lowered charge transfer resistance and enhanced Pt-utilization is attributed to its unique wire-like appearance and its robust properties. The fabricated microporous layer - free GDL is suitable for relatively aggressive membrane electrode assembly fabrication procedures and is produced by industrially favorable techniques, rendering it capable of efficiently supporting small amounts of precious metal catalyst nanoparticles in various PEM applications.

Graphite oxides (GO) are intercalated rapidly by one to several layers of solvent when immersed in liquid but the GO solvates are typically unstable on air due to solvent evaporation. Here we study swelling of GO in solvents (sugar alcohols) with melting temperature point above ambient. Using in situ synchrotron radiation XRD experiments we demonstrated GO swelling in molten xylitol and sorbitol. The expanded GO structure intercalated with one layer of xylitol or sorbitol is preserved upon solidification of melt and cooling back to ambient conditions. The structure of solid solvates of GO with xylitol and sorbitol is based on non-covalent interaction and pristine GO can be recovered by washing in water. Intercalation of xylitol and sorbitol into GO structure in aqueous solutions yields similar but less ordered structure of GO/sugar alcohol solid solvates. Very similar inter-layer distance was observed for GO intercalated by sugar alcohols in melt and for GO immersed in sugar solutions. This result shows that sugar alcohols penetrate into GO inter-layer space without hydration shell forming 2D layers with orientation parallel to graphene oxide sheets. Therefore, hydration diameter of molecules should not be considered as decisive factor for permeation through graphene oxide inter-layers in multilayered membranes.

Hybrid 2D-2D materials composed of perpendicularly oriented covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and graphene were prepared and tested for energy storage applications. Diboronic acid molecules covalently attached to graphene oxide (GO) were used as nucleation sites for directing vertical growth of COF-1 nanosheets (v-COF-GO). The hybrid material has a forest of COF-1 nanosheets with a thickness of 3 to 15 nm in edge-on orientation relative to GO. The reaction performed without molecular pillars resulted in uncontrollable growth of thick COF-1 platelets parallel to the surface of GO. The v-COF-GO was converted into a conductive carbon material preserving the nanostructure of precursor with ultrathin porous carbon nanosheets grafted to graphene in edge-on orientation. It was demonstrated as a high-performance electrode material for supercapacitors. The molecular pillar approach can be used for preparation of many other 2D-2D materials with control of their relative orientation.

Porous pillared graphene oxide (GO) materials were prepared using solvothermal reaction of Hummers GO with solution of Tetrakis(4-aminophenyl)methane (TKAm) in methanol. The intercalation of TKAm molecules between individual GO sheets, performed under swelling condition, results in expansion of inter-layer distance of GO from ∼7.5 Å to 13-14 Å. Pillaring GO with bulky, rigid 3D shaped TKAm molecules could be an advantage for the preparation of stable pillared structures compared to e.g. aliphatic or aromatic diamines. Insertion of TKAm molecules into inter-layer space of GO results in formation of interconnected network of sub-nanometer slit pores. The expanded GO structure prepared with optimized GO/TKAm composition shows Specific Surface Area (SSA) up to 660 m2/g which is among the highest reported for GO materials pillared using organic spacers. Modelling of GO structures pillared with TKAm molecules shows that maximal SSA of about 2300 m2/g is theoretically possible for realistic concentration of pillaring molecules in GO interlayers. Hydrogen sorption by pillared GO/TKAm is found to follow standard correlation with SSA both at ambient and liquid nitrogen temperatures with highest uptakes of 1.66 wt% achieved at 77 K and 0.25 wt% at 295 K. Our theoretical simulations show that pillared GO structures do not provide improvement of hydrogen storage beyond well-established physisorption trends even for idealized materials with subnanometer pores and SSA of 2300–3700 m2/g.

Multilayered intercalation of 1-octanol into the structure of Brodie graphite oxide (B-GO) was studied as a function of temperature and pressure. Reversible phase transition with the addition/removal of one layer of 1-octanol was found at 265 K by means of X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The same transition was observed at ambient temperature upon a pressure increase above 0.6 GPa. This transition was interpreted as an incongruent melting of the low temperature/high pressure B-GO intercalated structure with five layers of 1-octanol parallel to GO sheets (L-solvate), resulting in the formation of a four-layered structure that is stable under ambient conditions (A-solvate). Vacuum heating allows the removal of 1-octanol from the A-solvate layer by layer, while distinct sets of (00l) reflections are observed for three-, two-, and one-layered solvate phases. Step by step removal of the 1-octanol layers results in changes of distance between graphene oxide planes by ∼4.5 Å. This experiment proved that both L- and A-solvates are structures with layers of 1-octanol parallel to GO planes. Unusual intercalation with up to five distinct layers of 1-octanol is remarkably different from the behaviour of small alcohol molecules (methanol and ethanol), which intercalate B-GO structure with only one layer under ambient conditions and a maximum of two layers at lower temperatures or higher pressures. The data presented in this study make it possible to rule out a change in the orientation of alcohol molecules from parallel to perpendicular to the GO planes, as suggested in the 1960s to explain larger expansion of the GO lattice due to swelling with larger alcohols.

Comment on "Nanohole-Structured and Palladium-Embedded 3D Porous Graphene for Ultrahigh Hydrogen Storage and CO Oxidation Multifunctionalities"

Graphite oxides synthesized by one and two step Brodie oxidation (BGO) and Hummers (HGO) methods were analyzed by a variety of characterization methods in order to evaluate the reasons behind the difference in their properties. It is found that the Brodie method results in a higher relative amount of hydroxyl groups and a more homogeneous overall distribution of functional groups over the planar surface of the graphene oxide flakes. The higher number of carbonyl and carboxyl groups in HGO, detected by several methods, including XPS, NMR and FTIR, unavoidably results in defects of the graphene "skeleton", holes and overall disruption of the carbon-carbon bond network, stronger deviation from planar flake shape and poor ordering of the graphene oxide layers. It is also suggested that functional groups in HGO are less homogeneously distributed over the flake surface, forming some nanometer-sized graphene areas. The presence of differently oxidized areas on the GO surface results in inhomogeneous solvation and hydration of HGO and effects of inter- and intra-stratification. The proposed interpretation of the data explains the higher mechanical strength of multi-layered BGO membranes/papers, which are also less affected by humidity changes, thus providing an example of a membrane property superior to that of HGO.