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Increasing issues of pathogen drug resistance and spreading pose a serious threat to the ability to treat common infectious diseases, which encourages people to explore effective technology to meet the challenge. Photodynamic antibacterial inactivation (aPDI) is being explored for inactivating pathogens, which could be used as a novel approach to prevent this threat. Here, porphyrin-embedded MOF material (PCN-224) with photodynamic effect was synthesized, then the PCN-224 nanoparticles (NPs) were embedded into PAN nanofibers with an electrospinning process (PAN-PCN nanofiber membrane). On the one hand, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers help to improve the stability of PCN-224 NPs, which could avoid their leakage. On the other, the PAN nanofibers are used as a support material to load bactericidal PCN-224 NPs, realizing recycling after bacterial elimination. An antibacterial photodynamic inactivation (aPDI) study demonstrated that the PAN-PCN 0.6% nanofiber membrane processed 3.00 log unit elimination towards a E. coli bacterial strain and 4.70 log unit towards a S. aureus strain under illumination. A mechanism study revealed that this efficient bacterial elimination was due to singlet oxygen (1O2). Although the materials are highly phototoxic, an MTT assay showed that the as fabricated nanofiber membranes had good biocompatibility in the dark, and the cell survival rates were all above 85%. Taken together, this work provided an application prospect of nanofibers with an aPDI effect to deal with the issues of pathogen drug resistance and spreading.

Bacterial cellulose is a glucose biopolymer produced by microorganisms and widely used as a natural renewable and sustainable resource in the world. However, few bacterial cellulose-producing strains and low yield of cellulose greatly limited the development of bacterial cellulose. In this review, we summarized the 30 cellulose-producing bacteria reported so far, including the physiological functions and the metabolic synthesis mechanism of bacterial cellulose, and the involved three kinds of cellulose synthases (type I, type II, and type III), which are expected to provide a reference for the exploration of new cellulose-producing microbes.

For the purpose of developing multifunctional water purification materials capable of degrading organic pollutants while simultaneously inactivating microorganisms from contaminated wastewater streams, we report here a facile and eco-friendly method to immobilize molybdenum disulfide into bacterial cellulose via a one-step in-situ biosynthetic method. The resultant nanocomposite, termed BC/MoS

Enzyme membrane systems (EMS) have generated considerable interest because of their advantages of accelerating reactions, eliminating product inhibition, and enhancing conversion rates. However, there are deficiencies in the efficient fabrication of affinity carrier membranes and dynamic catalytic separation properties. Herein, a strong and highly flexible spunlaced viscose/bacterial cellulose (BC) composite membrane in situ embedded with graphene oxide (GO) was developed by combining a scalable bio-synthesis method with atom transfer radical polymerization technology. Notably, the layer-by-layer growth of BC on composite film and the addition of GO resulted in an entangled network with strong hydrogen bonding, endowing the resulting membrane with superior mechanical properties and flexibility, while facilitating a gradient structure and porous transport channels. Subsequently, a novel and highly efficient EMS was constructed by using abundant molecular brushes on composite membrane as immobilized enzyme carrier. The resulting EMS exhibited a high throughput (2.17 L/min*m

Owing to the multi-dimensional complexity of human motions, traditional uniaxial strain sensors lack the accuracy in monitoring dynamic body motions working in different directions, thus multidirectional strain sensors with excellent electromechanical performance are urgently in need. Towards this goal, in this work, a stretchable biaxial strain sensor based on double elastic fabric (DEF) was developed by incorporating carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotubes(c-MWCNTs) and polypyrrole (PPy) into fabric through simple, scalable soaking and adsorption-oxidizing methods. The fabricated DEF/c-MWCNTs/PPy strain sensor exhibited outstanding anisotropic strain sensing performance, including relatively high sensitivity with the maximum gauge factor (GF) of 5.2, good stretchability of over 80%, fast response time < 100 ms, favorable electromechanical stability, and durability for over 800 stretching–releasing cycles. Moreover, applications of DEF/c-MWCNTs/PPy strain sensor for wearable devices were also reported, which were used for detecting human subtle motions and dynamic large-scale motions. The unconventional applications of DEF/c-MWCNTs/PPy strain sensor were also demonstrated by monitoring complex multi-degrees-of-freedom synovial joint motions of human body, such as neck and shoulder movements, suggesting that such materials showed a great potential to be applied in wearable electronics and personal healthcare monitoring.

Owing to the rise in prevalence of multidrug-resistant pathogens attributed to the overuse of antibiotics, infectious diseases caused by the transmission of microbes from contaminated surfaces to new hosts are an ever-increasing threat to public health. Thus, novel materials that can stem this crisis, while also functioning via multiple antimicrobial mechanisms so that pathogens are unable to develop resistance to them, are in urgent need. Toward this goal, in this work, we developed in situ grown bacterial cellulose/MoS

Multifunctional hydrogels with transparency, ultraviolet (UV)-blocking, stretchable, self-healing, adhesive, antioxidant and antibacterial properties are promising materials for biomedical and relevant applications. However, preparation of these hydrogels at ambient environment without stimuli is still a challenge. Here, a series of hydrogels possessing ultrashort gelation time (~30 s) at room or cold temperature were fabricated based on self-catalytic Fe

A facile strategy for synthesizing MnCo2O4/carbon (MCO/C) composite nanofibers is introduced in this work, in which MCO nanoparticles with an average size of about 40 nm are distributed uniformly in carbon nanofiber matrix by electrospinning and subsequent heat treatment. When adopted as anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), MCO/C exhibits better lithium storage capabilities in comparison with bare MCO. The initial discharge/charge capacity of MCO/C is up to 1484/1140 mAh g−1 and can maintain a stable capacity of 933 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 over 200 cycles. Meanwhile, a reversible capacity of 500 mAh g−1 can be retained even at a high current density of 2 A g−1 after 1000 long cycles. The superior electrochemical properties are mainly resulted from the conductive carbon matrix which can not only promote electron transfer but also act as a buffer to alleviate volume change of MCO during the lithiation/delithiation process. It is demonstrated that MCO/C nanofiber can be used as prospective anode materials for LIBs.

With the aim of developing self-disinfecting materials to prevent pathogen transmission from surfaces to new hosts, here we report a simple and eco-friendly way to prepare photodynamic bacterial cellulose (BC) onto which the naturally-occurring photosensitizer hypocrellin (Hc) has been covalently appended. The resultant hypocrellin-grafted BC membrane (Hc-BC) was characterized by both physical (SEM, TGA, XRD) and spectroscopic (IR, diffuse reflectance UV–visible) methods, and the photosensitizer loading was found to be 155 nmol Hc/mg membrane. Indirect cytotoxicity tests employing mouse skin fibroblast (L929) cells showed no changes in cell viability, demonstrating that the Hc-BC membrane lacked any leachable components (e.g., unreacted coupling agent or hypocrellin) that could be cytotoxic to mammalian cells. The photodynamic antibacterial activity of Hc-BC was evaluated against gram-positive S. aureus (ATCC-6538) and gram-negative E. coli strain 8099. Our results demonstrated a 99.5 + % (2.7 log units) reduction in S. aureus upon illumination (Xe lamp, 65 ± 5 mW/cm2, 420–780 nm; 30 min), however, no statistically significant inactivation of E. coli was observed. Potentiation with potassium iodide was found to increase the antibacterial efficacy of Hc-BC against S. aureus to 99.997% (4.8 log units) at 10 mM KI, while E. coli was inactivated by 99.1% (2 log units) at 100 mM KI, with the increase in inactivation being attributable to short-lived reactive iodide radicals that are the major biocidal agents in the potentiation of Hc-BC by KI. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that hypocrellin-grafted bacterial cellulose is a sustainable material from which potent photodynamic antibacterial materials may be derived.

In this study, 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) was used as the monomers for surface grafting on electrospun PU/RC nanofiber membrane via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method, and the PU/RC‐poly(HEMA) nanofiber membrane was investigated as a carrier for LAC. Free and immobilized LAC was characterized, and efficiency of bisphenol A (BPA) removal was determined. The results indicated that the PU/RC‐poly(HEMA)‐LAC showed relatively higher pH stability, temperature stability, and storage stability than free and PU/RC‐LAC; moreover, more than 60% of the PU/RC‐poly(HEMA)‐LAC activity was retained after 10 cycles of ABTS treatment. Notably, the BPA removal efficiency of PU/RC‐poly(HEMA)‐LAC membrane generally ranged from 87.3 to 75.4% for the five cycles. Therefore, the PU/RC‐poly(HEMA) nanofiber membrane has great potential as a carrier for the LAC immobilization for various industrial applications and bioremediation.

A novel form-stable phase change material (FSPCM) with remarkable improvement in thermal properties was fabricated by incorporating ternary fatty acid eutectics with graphene sheetconnected electrospun carbon nanofibers (GCNFs). The GCNFs possessed three-dimensional (3D) porous architecture and large specific surface area while provided mechanical support for FSPCM and effectively prevented flow/leakage of molten fatty acid. The GCNF based FSPCM exhibited desire structural morphology with lauric-myristic-stearic acid (LA-MA-SA) eutectic mixture being well dispersed in a 3D porous architecture. This novel FSPCM demonstrated superior thermal storage/retrieval capability and temperature regulation ability as well as good shape stability and thermal cycling stability. The melting and crystallization enthalpies of the fabricated FSPCMs were up to 120.4 and 120.1 kJ/kg, respectively. The thermal conductivity of the fabricated FSPCMs was 337% and 188% higher than that of LA-MA-SA eutectic mixture and a control sample without graphene, respectively, which ranked the top among the literature about LA-MA-SA eutectic mixture derived composite FSPCMs. Furthermore, the heating/cooling efficiency of the prepared FSPCMs was 45.7/64.9% higher than that of LA-MA-SA eutectic mixture.

To protect the structure of MoS2 from collapse, a strong skeleton is expected to help maintain the integrity. In this study, cotton linters burdened with hollow C@MoS2 nanocapsules are added into nutrient medium for the growth of a bacterial cellulose membrane. Benefitting from good conductivity and structural integrity, the resultant fibrous membrane anode gives reversible capacities of 559 and 155 mAh g-1 for Li-ion batteries and Na-ion batteries after 100 cycles, respectively. The structural transformation and component evolution in lithiation-delithiation and sodiation-desodiation was elucidated by in situ Raman spectroscopy. After sodiation, the Na2 S did not transform back into MoS2 but was more likely converted into elemental sulfur during the conversion reaction. Layered semiconducting transition metal chalcogenides, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ), feature open 2 D ion-transport channels amenable to receive various guest ions with high theoretical capacities.[2] One serious challenge curtailing the applicability of such materials is their volume changes during discharge-charge processes.[3, 4] However, particular morphologies of MoS2 are proposed to improve the specific capacity.[5,6,7] Many works have focused on core-shell and hollow MoS2 micro- and nanostructures, and the results validate the advantages of shortening the lithium-ion diffusion distance and enhancing specific capacity.[8,9] Unfortunately, the issue of inferior capacity stability is not resolved, because the structure is not effectively protected and is prone to collapse.

This study investigates the biosynthesis of microbial cellulose–electrospun nano-fibrous membrane hybrid nano-fabric via the use of a modified bioreactor. Microbial cellulose is known for its high liquid absorbency and hygienic nature. Electrospun nano-fibrous membranes, on the other hand, exhibit excessive surface hydrophobicity in typical conditions. As such, this research intends to improve the hydrophilic property of electrospun membranes through in situ self-assembly of microbial cellulose nano-fibrils on membrane’s surface. Scanning electron microscopy showed successful growth of microbial cellulose nano-fibrils on the surface and within the structure of electrospun membranes which could possibly contribute toward improved tensile properties. Some functional properties of hybrid nano-fabric, including water absorbency, drying time, and amount of vertical wicking, were determined and compared with pure electrospun membrane samples. Results showed that water absorbency, wicking ability, and drying time increased, as a result of microbial cellulose reinforcement. The average increase in water absorption capability and water-holding time was 72.8 and 32.65%, respectively, whereas wicking ability increased up to 16.5%. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that microbial cellulose contribution has importance for hybrid nano-fabric in terms of key material characteristics that are appropriate for wound dressing and related applications.

Flexible, compressible and conductive aerogels were fabricated by incorporating polyaniline (PANI) into bacterial cellulose/chitosan (BC/CH) composites through facile freeze-drying technique. The PANI/BC/CH aerogel fabricated with the BC:CH weight ratio of 1:1 displayed the highest resistance response and showed extremely high sensitivity (1.41 kPa−1), low pressure detection (32 Pa), wide range of pressure deformation and extraordinary stability as a piezoresistive sensor. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was embedded into PANI/BC/CH aerogels to form PANI/BC/CH PDMS composites that displayed good stability under large mechanical deformation. Furthermore, applications of PANI/BC/CH aerogels and PANI/BC/CH/PDMS composites in piezoresistive sensors for wearable devices were also reported, which could detect human motions, ranging from joint movement to speech recognition, thus suggesting feasibility in health monitoring systems.

For overcoming the fragility of inorganic supporting materials as form-stable phase change materials (FSPCMs), flexible and soft SiO₂ nanofibrous mats were applied as supporting materials of FSPCMs for storage/retrieval of thermal energy. Quaternary fatty acid eutectics were incorporated into SiO₂ nanofibrous mats as representative phase change materials. Flexible SiO₂ nanofibrous mats were prepared by electrospinning combined with annealing. The thermal energy storage capability, surface morphology and thermal energy storage/retrieval rate of FSPCMs were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laboratorymade thermal performance measurement device. The results indicated that the resultant SiO₂ nanofibrous mats were soft and free-standing. Quaternary fatty acid eutectics were distributed uniformly in the three-dimensional (3D) network structure of the SiO₂ nanofibrous mats, thereby effectively preventing fatty acid leakage. The absorption capacities of five types of quaternary fatty acid eutectics varied from 85.1% to 88.9%. Moreover, after 20 cycles, the phase change temperature and enthalpy of FSPCMs did not change significantly, suggesting that ideal thermal stability was achieved. The time for thermal energy storage/retrieval taken by FSPCMs was shortened by 23.1% at minimum from that for pure quaternary fatty acid eutectics. Therefore, the fabricated FSPCMs offer promising application prospects in a wide variety of fields, including solar energy utilization, temperature-regulating textiles and air-conditioning systems.

It is important to explore and develop multifunctional phase change composites with high latent-heat capacity and photothermal conversion capability. A novel ultralight and flexible carbon foam (CF)-based phase change composite was fabricated by encapsulating n-eicosane into a CF skeleton that had been precoated with titanium(III) oxide (Ti2O3) nanoparticles (NPs). Morphological structures, as well as the properties of leakage-proof, thermal energy storage, temperature regulation, and photothermal conversion, of the fabricated phase change composites were investigated. The results indicated that the flexible CF skeleton derived from melamine foam (MF) through stabilization in air followed by carbonization in nitrogen was highly porous, which ensured excellent mechanical support and large mass ratio of n-eicosane for the composites. The loading percentage of n-eicosane as high as 84% which acted as thermal storage unit guaranteed high latent-heat capacity and good temperature regulation property of the composite; the melting/crystallization temperatures and enthalpies of the corresponding composite was 36.4/33.7 °C and 200.1/200.6 kJ·kg-1, respectively. The CF skeleton modified with Ti2O3 NPs endowed the fabricated phase change composites with enhanced leakage-proof property, photothermal conversion capability, superior thermal reliability, and temperature regulation ability. Therefore, the resultant phase change composites are believed to have promising and potential applications in solar thermal-energy storage, waste-heat recovery, and infrared stealth of military targets, and so forth.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to prepare structural colors of fabrics coated with Silver/Zinc Oxide (Ag/ZnO) composite films by magnetron sputtering and analyze the relationship between the colors and the thickness of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) film in Ag/ZnO composite film and the photocatalytic property of the fabrics coated with Ag/ZnO composite film. Design/methodology/approach Ag/ZnO composite films deposited on polyester fabrics were prepared by magnetron sputtering technology. The structural colors of textiles coated with Ag/ZnO composite films and the relationship between the colors and Ag/ZnO composite films were analyzed, and the photocatalytic property of Ag/ZnO composite films was also discussed. Findings The results indicated that the colors varied with the thicknesses of the ZnO film in Ag/ZnO composite films. The reactive sputtering time of ZnO film was 5, 8, 10 and 14 min, respectively, and the colors of the corresponding fabrics were purple, blue, blue-green and yellow. Meanwhile, the polyester fabrics coated with Ag/ZnO composite films showed the excellent photocatalytic properties, and silver (Ag) films deposited under the ZnO films in Ag/ZnO composite films could also improve the photocatalytic activities of ZnO films, and the formaldehyde degradation rates was 77.5%, which was higher than the 69.9% for the fabrics coated only with the ZnO film. Originality/value The polyester fabrics coated with Ag/ZnO composite films not only created various structural colors using change the thicknesses of the ZnO film, but also achieved the multifuctionality, which will have a broad application prospect in textile fields.

The eight kinds of fatty acid binary and ternary eutectics such as capric–lauric acid (CL), capric–myristic acid (CM), capric–palmitic acid (CP), capric–stearic acid (CS), capric–lauric–palmitic acid (CLP), capric–myristic–palmitic acid (CMP), capric–myristic–stearic acid (CMS), and capric–palmitic–stearic acid (CPS) were selected as solid–liquid PCMs in this paper. The innovative electrospun fatty acid binary eutectic/polystyrene/fatty acid ternary eutectic (i.e., CL/PS/CLP, CM/PS/CLP, CP/PS/CLP, CS/PS/CLP, CL/PS/CMS, CM/PS/CMS, CP/PS/CMS, CS/PS/CMS, CL/PS/CPS, CM/PS/CPS, CP/PS/CPS and CS/PS/CPS) and fatty acid ternary eutectic/polystyrene/fatty acid ternary eutectic (i.e., CLP/PS/CMP, CLP/PS/CMS, CLP/PS/CPS, CMP/PS/CMS, CMP/PS/CPS and CMS/PS/CPS) form-stable phase change composite fibrous membranes (PCCFMs) were fabricated by co-electrospinning. The morphological structure, phase change temperatures, and enthalpies were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. The SEM images showed that the PS-based phase change composite fibers were collected to form form-stable PCCFMs with the average fiber diameter of about 335–640 nm. The DSC analysis indicated that the melting peak temperatures of electrospun PS-based form-stable PCCFMs can be adjusted to 15–25 °C with the temperature interval of 1 °C by combining the both of fatty acid binary and ternary eutectics into the PS supporting fibers. These PS-based form-stable PCCFMs can be recommended for potential low-temperature thermal energy storage applications to regulate temperature and satisfy the human thermal comfortability.

The adoption of self-sterilizing materials to reduce infection transmission in hospitals and related healthcare facilities has been hampered by the availability of scalable, cost-effective, and potent antimicrobial textiles. Here, we investigated whether photodynamic materials comprising photosensitizer-embedded wool/acrylic blends were able to mediate the photodynamic inactivation of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. A small library of wool/acrylic (W/A) blended fabrics was constructed wherein the wool fibers were embedded with rose Bengal (RB) as a photosensitizer and the acrylic fibers were dyed with a traditional cationic yellow X-8GL dye, thereby enabling a broader color palette than was achievable with a single photosensitizer. The resultant photodynamic materials were characterized by physical (SEM, DSC, TGA, tensile strength), spectroscopic (fluorescence), colorimetric (

Nickel hydroxide as a potential electrode material was widely used in supercapacitor, but its electrochemical performance is limited due to its low conductivity, insufficient structure and weak stability. In this work, we reported a simple “one-pot” hydrothermal method of vertically growing cobalt-nickel hydroxide (Co-Ni-OH) and rGO nanosheets on conductive carbon cloth (Co-Ni-OH/rGO/CC). We demonstrated that the capacitive performance of Co-Ni-OH electrode could be significantly improved by adding rGO with uniform vertically growing nanostructure, which shortened ion diffusion paths and avoided the interface resistance. As pseudocapacitors, the as-prepared Co-Ni-OH/rGO/CC electrode showed a notable enhanced specific capacitance (151.46 F g−1 at 2.5 A g−1) and a good cycling stability (88.0% after 1000 cycles). Moreover, the symmetric supercapacitor composed of two as-prepared Co-Ni-OH/rGO/CC electrodes achieved a high energy density of 30.29 W h kg−1 at a power density of 1500 W kg−1 (based on active materials) and remarkable cycling stability (85.6% after 3000 cycles). This finding provides a simple and effective way to fabricate a promising electrode material for high-performance supercapacitor and other energy storage device.

Electrospun SiO2 nanofibrous mats have been widely utilized as substrate of form-stable phase change materials due to large specific surface area and high convection coefficient. In order to overcome the brittleness and enhance the absorption capacity of SiO2 nanofibrous mats as substrate, flexible and hollow SiO2 nanofibrous mats were prepared by single-spinneret electrospinning which eliminated complicated spinneret and unstable structure compared with coaxial electrospinning. Quinary fatty acid eutectics were chosen as representative fatty acid which were adsorbed in SiO2 nanofibrous mats to form form-stable phase change materials. The results showed that hollow structure can be observed as the content of paraffin oil decreased from 1.67 to 0.70 g, and as-prepared hollow nanofibrous mats displayed favorable flexibility. DSC results demonstrated that the largest melting/crystallization enthalpy supported by hollow SiO2 nanofibrous mats was approximately 123.80/120.50 J g−1, which was much higher than solid SiO2 nanofibers. More importantly, after 30 cycles, there was no obvious change for phase change temperature and enthalpy. The thermal conductivity of representative form-stable phase change materials was over three times than that of quinary fatty acid eutectics. Hence, flexible and hollow SiO2 nanofibrous mats were excellent substrate in form-stable phase change materials and would have wide application prospects.

The development of a bio-based fluorescent membrane sensor for iron ions is elaborated. A three-dimensional (3D) network structure of bacterial cellulose (BC) made by layer-by-layer in situ cultivation contained nitrogen doped graphene oxide quantum dots (N-GOQDs). The obtained BC/N-GOQDs were analyzed by SEM, TEM and XPS and demonstrated that the blue emissive N-GOQDs were homogeneously distributed in the BC mats through hydrogen bonding. These materials were found to be useful for the detection of iron ions in aqueous solutions. Experimental data showed the blue-emitting BC/N-GOQDs fluorescent probes exhibited a sensitive response to Fe3+ within a favorable concentration range of 0.5–650 μM with a very good lower limit detection of 69 nM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 (S/N = 3). Meanwhile, the BC/N-GOQDs–Fe3+ complexes has good reproducibility after treatment with EDTA. The quenching mechanism was attributed to strong coordination between surface functional groups (–NH2 and –OH) and Fe3+ which was successfully applied in real water samples. Diagram of quenching mechanism of the BC/N-GOQDs nanocomposites towards Fe3+ ions.

Due to various production stages involved, textiles and clothing industry is known for causing carbon dioxide emissions, water pollution, soil erosion and huge waste generation. It is a need of the hour to seek for natural, renewable, and bio-degradable fabrication materials and environmentally friendly production methods. This study proposes an eco-friendly approach to prepare bacterial cellulose/electrospun nanofibers membrane-based hybrid non-woven fabrics using in-situ self-assembly method. This fabrication method enables bacterial cellulose cultivation on nanofibrous membrane support to create custom-made seamless tubular hybrid fabrics in desirable dimensions, to be used for various textile applications with minimized material wastage. As-prepared nano-composite fabric was characterized using SEM, X-ray diffraction, and FTIR. FTIR and X-ray diffraction results confirmed the presence of bacterial cellulose in the composite structure. SEM analysis showed as the bacterial cellulose cultivates, its nanofibrils penetrate and grow into empty voids of membrane's structure, which results in secure binding and interlocking of electrospun nonofibers. Sample thickness and weight gain measurements after the modification were found to be approx. 33.90% and 39.02%, respectively. Reduced surface hydrophobicity, water uptake, and increased tensile strength might contribute towards better fabric performance and comfort. Overall, this study suggests an eco-friendly approach to prepare nano-composite fabrics that might be used for bio-textiles and related applications.

In this research, unzipped sulfanilic acid inspired hydrophobic peptide tube was synthesis by increasing the polarity of sulfanilic acid through nucleophilic attachment of aniline which then provided two reactive sites at the S-terminus. These two sites were then attached with the N-terminal of valine and alanine respectively at an intensity of 1000-1600 of 11 2θ (°). Through π-π stacking at the side chains, the opened ended peptide was linearly arranged to form the unzipped tube. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirm the amine bond formation whiles X-ray diffraction test results confirmed D-spacing 7.36 and 4.44 corresponding 2θ (°)12 and 19.97 respectively whiles the torsion angles (Ø2) conformations was between-150.5°and-169.2° and-2 between-129.0° and-150.6°. The Thermogravimetric analysis result showed an increase in the rigidity of the bond with an increasing intensity. Finally, Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test was carried out to confirm the crystallinity of the structure. Keywords: Sulfanilic acid, hydrophobic Peptide, Unzipped tubes, Nanomaterial

Improvement in thermal conductivity and shape-stabilization of lauric-myristic-stearic acid (LA-MA-SA) ternary eutectic mixture phase change materials by incorporating with reduced graphene oxide/carbon nano-felts (RGO/CNFs) were investigated. The RGO/CNFs Supporting Materials were facilely made from amidoxime surface-functionalized polyacrylonitrile (ASFPAN) nano-felts immersed in graphene oxide aqueous through stabilization in air followed by carbonization in argon. Various analytical techniques were employed to reveal the morphological structure and thermal properties of fabricated form-stable phase change materials (FSPCMs). FT-IR, SEM, TEM, XRD, EDS and BET characterizations indicated that the RGO/CNFs matrix possessed excellent morphological structure and large specific surface area, so that LA-MA-SA could well dispersed in its 3D porous architecture and well-retain their overall shapes. DSC results showed that the maximum loading capacity of LA-MA-SA reached 73.5%, and the highest melting/crystallization enthalpies of fabricated FSPCMs were 128.1/127.9 kJ/kg, respectively. Hot disk thermal constant analyzer suggested that thermal conductivity of the FSPCMs was 1.88 W/m K, approximately 583% higher than that of neat LA-MA-SA. Temperature-time curves for melting/freezing process indicated that compared with melting/freezing times of LA-MA-SA, the melting/freezing time of fabricated FSPCMs decreased about 55.1/62.7%. The RGO/CNFs might afford a lot of conductive pathways for heat transfer and/or conversion. The FSPCMs exhibited superior shape-stabilization owing to capillary force and surface tension induced by interconnected netlike RGO/CNFs composites. Hence, they can be considered as more promising thermal energy storage material in advanced energy-related devices and building energy conservation applications.

As the most widely used metal oxide catalysts in photocatalytic degradation, the fast recombination of charge carriers limits the photocatalytic performance of multiform TiO2, resulting from its direct-band-gap property. In the present work, we designed C-doped coupled TiO2/ZnO nanofibrous membrane based on the derivation of ZnO from the metal organic framework (MOF). The morphology and catalytic properties of the composite membrane could be manipulated by the growth of ZIF-8 crystals. Compared to pristine TiO2 nanofibers (11.4341 m2 g−1), the composite membrane with an optimized ZnO cubes exhibited larger specific surface area (30.2475 m2 g−1) after introducing ZnO cubes. Furthermore, the crossed-network connection between TiO2 and ZnO cubes is propitious to increase the synergy of the heterojunction, subsequently effectively inhibiting the recombination of photogenetrated holes and electrons. Benefitting from the trinomial synergistic effect of carbon doping, ZnO and TiO2, the as-designed composite membrane exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance to Rhodamine compared to pure TiO2 nanofibers. This study not only presents the strategy of preparing a C-doped coupled TiO2/ZnO composites with crossed network connection for effective photocatalysis, but also exploit the application of MOFs.

Polyaniline/titanium dioxide (PANI/TiO2) were co-doped with sulfosalicylic (SSA) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) and then deposited onto the surface of cotton fabrics in one-step in-situ polymerization. PANI/TiO2 composites were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), while the surface morphologies of the cotton fabrics were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The conductivity of prepared PANI/TiO2/cotton composites was measured by four-probe method and results showed that it decreased slightly with the increase of TiO2 concentration. The conductivity would be up to 8.8 ‍S/cm at concentration of TiO2 4 g/L. The UPF value of PANI/TiO2/cotton composites was significantly enhanced, even if after washing for 10 times. The photocatalytic results showed that absorption and degradation efficiency of PANI/TiO2/cotton composites to rhodamine B (RHB) could reach up to 87.67%, which might be due to the synergistic effects of PANI and TiO2.

Poly(lactic acid)/hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride-modified montmorillonite clay nanofiber membranes have been fabricated by the electrospinning technique. The nanofiber membranes were then characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy. Nanofiber membranes with different ratios of Poly(lactic acid) and hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride-modified montmorillonite have been spun by varying voltage supply during electrospinning. These parameters were found to have a substantial effect on the morphologies of these membranes. It was found that 8% (w/w) Poly(lactic acid)/hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride-modified montmorillonite concentration is an ideal condition to obtain thinner and uniform Poly(lactic acid) fibers. The results also suggested the coexistence of exfoliated hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride-modified montmorillonite layers over the studied hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride-modified montmorillonite contents. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy revealed that there might be possible interactions between the hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride-modified montmorillonite clay and Poly(lactic acid) matrix.

Flexible and electrically conductive hydrogels were fabricated by incorporating carboxylic multiwall carbon nanotubes (c-MWCNTs) into bacterial cellulose (BC) membranes by electrostatic self-assembly using bovine serum albumin (BSA). A piezoresistive strain sensor assembled by c-MWCNTs/BSA/BC hydrogel exhibited 70% stretchability and excellent cycling stability. It was able to accurately detect diverse large-scale human motions, including finger knuckle, wrist bending, knee joint, and elbow joint. The eco-friendly BC provided an inexpensive and renewable substrate for flexible strain sensors.

In this research work, in-situ self-assembly approach was used the first time, to cultivate bacterial cellulose on the surface of fibers, extracted from banana peels. The characterization was perfo...

Stretchable and wearable electronics, as a well-researched engineering frontier, can be applied in human motion detection, thermal therapy, personal healthcare monitoring and smart human–machine interactions. In this study, a multifunctional textile-based electronic device with combined strain sensing and heating capabilities was successfully fabricated from silver nanowire/wrap yarn via a facile and scalable fabrication approach. The wearable electronic device possesses favorable sensitivity, high conductivity (resistance ≈ 36 Ω cm−1) as well as large strain range (tolerable strain up to 200%). When the functionalized yarn served as a strain sensor, it exhibited fast, reproducible and stable responses under various tensile loadings. In addition, the strain sensor showed favorable electromechanical reliability and durability (1000 cycles). Furthermore, the strain sensor could detect large-scale human movements when directly attached to elbow, wrist or knee. When the composite served as a heater, it presented high heating temperature, homogeneous temperature distribution, fast thermal response, low operation voltage (2–6 V) and stability in repeated and long-term use. Based on the superior performance, the wearable electronic device holds tremendous promise for human motion monitoring, health tracking and thermotherapy.

Electrospun polyacrylonitrile/sliver nanoparticles (PAN/Ag-NPs) nanofibrous membranes were fabricated as supporting materials by direct dispersing Ag-NPs additives into PAN solutions. And then a series of form-stable phase change composite fibrous membranes (PCCFMs) were developed by physical adsorbing three different kinds of solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs) with the melting temperatures of about 20–33 °C including butyl stearate (BS), capric-myristic acid binary eutectic (CA-MA), capric- palmitic-stearic acid ternary eutectic (CA-PA-SA) into electrospun PAN/Ag-NPs supporting membranes. The morphology and thermal properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimeter and measurement of melting and freezing times, respectively. DSC curves suggested that melting peak temperatures and enthalpies of the PAN/Ag-NPs-based form- stable PCCFMs were in the range of about 23.47–29.31 °C and 138.1–156.7 kJkg −1 , respectively. Melting/freezing times were significantly shorten by about 29%/32% and 44%/52% for the BS/PAN/Ag-NPs5 and BS/PAN/Ag-NPs10 form-stable PCCFMs owing to the addition of Ag- NPs.

High-performance triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are usually made of expensive, unsustainable, and non-biodegradable materials, limiting their development for wearable applications and posing environmental problems for their disposal. Here, we mitigate this challenge by reporting a highly polarizable, low-cost, and biodegradable tribopositive material, made of poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL)/ethyl cellulose (EC) biocomposite. PCL (weakly polarizable, but mechanically robust) and EC (highly polarizable, but mechanically weak) learn from each other's strengths and complement each other's weaknesses. The obtained PCL/EC-based TENG reached a peak power density of 157.17 mW/m2 at optimized 6 wt % EC (at 40 MΩ load, 11 N), enhanced by 46 times. Thanks to the good flexibility, high tensile mechanical property, remarkable stability, and biodegradability, TENG can be comfortably attached on the human body as a wearable motion sensor, in addition to energy harvesting applications. Our work greatly contributes to the development of environmental sustainability, which results from reduction of electronic waste generation., Cell Reports, 3 (8), ISSN:2666-3864, ISSN:2211-1247

Laccase is a promising biocatalyst for pollutant degradation and water purification. However, laccase can only improve the stability of enzyme activity and achieve its significant catalytic effect after effective immobilization. Herein, we report a general strategy to integrate nanocellulose aerogel and laccase for high-efficiency degradation of organic pollutants. Biomass-derived functional bacterial cellulose (BC) aerogel with a nanonetwork structure and high porosity was prepared by biosynthesis, solvent replacement, and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) procedures. Subsequently, a biocatalyst platform was fabricated by "coupling" ATRP-modified BC aerogel with abundant active sites with laccase through ion coordination. The results demonstrated the biocatalyst platform not only has good biological affinity, but also has high enzyme load and structural stability. Meanwhile, the degradation rates of reactive red X-3B and 2, 4-dichlorophenol reached 94.5% and 85.2% within 4 h, respectively. The strategy disclosed herein could provide a practical method for the degradation of organic pollutants.