Biomimetic catechol-based adhesive polymers for dispersion of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) nanoparticles in an aqueous medium

Abstract Mechanically guided three-dimensional (3D) assembly based on the controlled buckling of pre-designed 2D thin-film precursors provides deterministic routes to complex 3D mesostructures in diverse functional materials, with access to a broad range of material types and length scales. Existing mechanics studies on this topic mainly focus on the forward problem that aims at predicting the configurations of assembled 3D structures, especially ribbon-shaped structures, given the configuration of initial 2D precursor and loading magnitude. The inverse design problem that maps the target 3D structure onto an unknown 2D precursor in the context of a prescribed loading method is essential for practical applications, but remains a challenge. This paper proposes a systematic optimization method to solve the inverse design of ribbon-type 3D geometries assembled through the buckling-guided approach. In addition to the torsional angle of the cross section, this method introduces the non-uniform width distribution of the initial ribbon structure and the loading mode as additional design variables, which can significantly enhance the optimization accuracy for reproducing the desired 3D centroid line of the target ribbon. Extension of this method allows the inverse design of entire 3D ribbon configurations with specific geometries, taking into account both the centroid line and the torsion for the cross section. Computational and experimental studies over a variety of elaborate examples, encompassing both the single-ribbon and ribbon-framework structures, demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the developed method.

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Functionalized Electrospun Nanofibers as Colorimetric Sensory Probe for Mercury Detection: A Review

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s19214763 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (21) ◽

pp. 4763 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Brabu Balusamy ◽

Anitha Senthamizhan ◽

Tamer Uyar

Keyword(s):

Metal Ion ◽

Colorimetric Detection ◽

Electrospun Nanofibers ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Sufficient Evidence ◽

Mercury Ions ◽

Electrospun Nanofiber ◽

Colorimetric Sensing ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Sensing Applications

Mercury is considered the most hazardous pollutant of aquatic resources; it exerts numerous adverse effects on environmental and human health. To date, significant progress has been made in employing a variety of nanomaterials for the colorimetric detection of mercury ions. Electrospun nanofibers exhibit several beneficial features, including a large surface area, porous nature, and easy functionalization; thus, providing several opportunities to encapsulate a variety of functional materials for sensing applications with enhanced sensitivity and selectivity, and a fast response. In this review, several examples of electrospun nanofiber-based sensing platforms devised by utilizing the two foremost approaches, namely, direct incorporation and surface decoration envisioned for detection of mercury ions are provided. We believe these examples provide sufficient evidence for the potential use and progress of electrospun nanofibers toward colorimetric sensing of mercury ions. Furthermore, the summary of the review is focused on providing an insight into the future directions of designing electrospun nanofiber-based, metal ion colorimetric sensors for practical applications.

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Repeatable Crack Self-Healing by Photochemical [2 + 2] Cycloaddition of TCE-co-DCE Monomers Enclosed in Homopolymer Microcapsules

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym11010104 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 104 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sunyoung Kim ◽

Bo-Hyun Kim ◽

Myongkeon Oh ◽

Dong Hyuk Park ◽

Sunjong Lee

Keyword(s):

Suspension Polymerization ◽

Healing Process ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Self Healing ◽

Reversible Process ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Alternative Approach ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Cross Links ◽

Ft Ir

Self-healing, an autonomous repairing process stimulated by damage, has recently attracted a great deal of attention in the field of medical and mechanical engineering as well as from scientists, due to its valuable potential applications. However, as the self-healing process is mediated by specific functional materials, practical applications have been limited. Here, we introduce a healable homopolymer microcapsule that can self-heal a crack or cleaved part through a photochemical [2 + 2] cycloaddition process. Microcapsules were prepared through photopolymerization and suspension polymerization, each containing 1,1,1-tris (cinnamoyloxymethyl) ethane (TCE) and 1,1-di (cinnamoyloxymethyl) ethane (DCE) monomers, which act as healing materials. TCE and DCE monomers were polymerized into poly (TCE-co-DCE) without a photoinitiator under illumination. The epoxy specimen embedded with microcapsules showed obvious healing performance during illumination after cracking. From the FT-IR spectra for each step of the healing process, the specimen could be repeatedly self-healed through the reversible process of cyclobutane cross-links to the original cinnamate and vice versa. This work shows an alternative approach using homopolymer microcapsules to accomplish the repeatable self-healing of a crack without interface discontinuity, which could be adopted as a healing substance in various paints.

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Ionotropic Gelation Fronts in Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose for Hydrogel Particle Formation

Gels ◽

10.3390/gels7020044 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 44

Author(s):

William N. Sharratt ◽

Carlos G. Lopez ◽

Miriam Sarkis ◽

Gunjan Tyagi ◽

Róisín O’Connell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carboxymethyl Cellulose ◽

Front Propagation ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Structural Features ◽

Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose ◽

Full Potential ◽

Gelation Mechanism ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Hydrogel Microparticles ◽

Hydrogel Particle

Hydrogel microparticles (HMPs) find numerous practical applications, ranging from drug delivery to tissue engineering. Designing HMPs from the molecular to macroscopic scales is required to exploit their full potential as functional materials. Here, we explore the gelation of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (NaCMC), a model anionic polyelectrolyte, with Fe3+ cations in water. Gelation front kinetics are first established using 1D microfluidic experiments, and effective diffusive coefficients are found to increase with Fe3+ concentration and decrease with NaCMC concentrations. We use Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to elucidate the Fe3+-NaCMC gelation mechanism and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to spatio-temporally resolve the solution-to-network structure during front propagation. We find that the polyelectrolyte chain cross-section remains largely unperturbed by gelation and identify three hierarchical structural features at larger length scales. Equipped with the understanding of gelation mechanism and kinetics, using microfluidics, we illustrate the fabrication of range of HMP particles with prescribed morphologies.

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Construction of Multifunctional NH2-UiO-66 Metal Organic Framework: Sensing And Photocatalytic Degradation of Ketorolac Tromethamine And Tetracycline In Aqueous Medium

10.21203/rs.3.rs-822468/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Manpreet Kaur ◽

Surinder Kumar Mehta ◽

Sushil Kumar Kansal

Keyword(s):

Aqueous Medium ◽

Limit Of Detection ◽

Metal Organic Framework ◽

Simultaneous Detection ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Solar Light ◽

Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽

Fluorescent Intensity ◽

Metal Organic ◽

Organic Framework

Abstract Existence of pharmaceutical residues in water has endangered environmental pollution worldwide, which makes it ineludible to develop prospective bifunctional materials which not only possess excellent fluorescence behaviour to monitor pharmaceuticals but also exhibits simultaneous photocatalytic removal efficiency. Strengthened by functionalized metal organic framework (MOF) materials, we present here an amine functionalized zirconium based MOF NH2-UiO-66 which has been successfully synthesized using solvothermal approach. The as prepared MOF was subjected to numerous structural, morphological and compositional characterizations. Interestingly, featured by the excellent fluorescent intensity of MOF modulated by LMCT effect, NH2-UiO-66 was screened to detect pharmaceutical compounds with KTC and TC in aqueous solution. The prepared functionalized MOF showcased excellent sensing platform with magnificent response range (0‒3 µM), lower limit of detection (160 nM; KTC and 140 nM; TC), excellent selectivity and influential anti-interference capability. More importantly, the practical utility of the proposed sensor was further explored for the determination of pharmaceutical drugs in real water samples with suitable recoveries. Simultaneously, the synthesized MOF also exhibited high photocatalytic efficiency towards the removal of KTC and TC under solar light irradiation. The degradation efficiency for KTC and TC was found to be 68.3 % and 71.8 % within 60 and 280 min of solar light, respectively. Moreover, excellent recyclability was demonstrated by the current synthesized system over five cycles. Overall, this study presents a feasible route for the utilization of functionalized MOFs as potential dual functional materials towards the simultaneous detection and degradation of specific pharmaceuticals from aqueous medium.

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Ga Based Particles, Alloys and Composites: Fabrication and Applications

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano11092246 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 2246

Author(s):

Zhi Li ◽

Yiming Guo ◽

Yufen Zong ◽

Kai Li ◽

Shuang Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electronic Devices ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Inorganic Nanoparticles ◽

Wearable Electronics ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Functional Composites ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Storage Batteries ◽

Energy Harvesting Devices

Liquid metal (LM) materials, including pure gallium (Ga) LM, eutectic alloys and their composites with organic polymers and inorganic nanoparticles, are cutting-edge functional materials owing to their outstanding electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, extraordinary mechanical compliance, deformability and excellent biocompatibility. The unique properties of LM-based materials at room temperatures can overcome the drawbacks of the conventional electronic devices, particularly high thermal, electrical conductivities and their fluidic property, which would open tremendous opportunities for the fundamental research and practical applications of stretchable and wearable electronic devices. Therefore, research interest has been increasingly devoted to the fabrication methodologies of LM nanoparticles and their functional composites. In this review, we intend to present an overview of the state-of-art protocols for the synthesis of Ga-based materials, to introduce their potential applications in the fields ranging from wearable electronics, energy storage batteries and energy harvesting devices to bio-applications, and to discuss challenges and opportunities in future studies.

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Carbon dots: advances in nanocarbon applications

Nanoscale ◽

10.1039/c9nr05647e ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (41) ◽

pp. 19214-19224 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Zhenhui Kang ◽

Shuit-Tong Lee

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dots ◽

Recent Progress ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Light Emitting ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Light Emitting Devices

We highlight the recent progress in the practical applications of C-Dots, with particular attention to the research in light-emitting devices, bioimaging and biodetection, catalysis, functional materials, and agriculture.

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Electro-mechanically controlled assembly of reconfigurable 3D mesostructures and electronic devices based on dielectric elastomer platforms

National Science Review ◽

10.1093/nsr/nwz164 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 342-354 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Wenbo Pang ◽

Xu Cheng ◽

Haojie Zhao ◽

Xiaogang Guo ◽

Ziyao Ji ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Materials ◽

Dielectric Elastomer ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Controlled Assembly ◽

Design Concepts ◽

Dielectric Elastomer Actuators ◽

3D Assembly ◽

Local Assembly ◽

Radio Frequency Circuit ◽

Experimental And Theoretical Studies

Abstract The manufacture of 3D mesostructures is receiving rapidly increasing attention, because of the fundamental significance and practical applications across wide-ranging areas. The recently developed approach of buckling-guided assembly allows deterministic formation of complex 3D mesostructures in a broad set of functional materials, with feature sizes spanning nanoscale to centimeter-scale. Previous studies mostly exploited mechanically controlled assembly platforms using elastomer substrates, which limits the capabilities to achieve on-demand local assembly, and to reshape assembled mesostructures into distinct 3D configurations. This work introduces a set of design concepts and assembly strategies to utilize dielectric elastomer actuators as powerful platforms for the electro-mechanically controlled 3D assembly. Capabilities of sequential, local loading with desired strain distributions allow access to precisely tailored 3D mesostructures that can be reshaped into distinct geometries, as demonstrated by experimental and theoretical studies of ∼30 examples. A reconfigurable inductive–capacitive radio-frequency circuit consisting of morphable 3D capacitors serves as an application example.

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Recent Advances in the Fabrication and Environmental Science Applications of Cellulose Nanofibril-Based Functional Materials

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14185390 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (18) ◽

pp. 5390

Author(s):

Lianming Zhang ◽

Lei Guo ◽

Gang Wei

Keyword(s):

Environmental Science ◽

Materials Science ◽

Organic Dyes ◽

Low Cost ◽

Cellulose Nanofibrils ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Research Field ◽

Practical Applications

Cellulose is one of the important biomass materials in nature and has shown wide applications in various fields from materials science, biomedicine, tissue engineering, wearable devices, energy, and environmental science, as well as many others. Due to their one-dimensional nanostructure, high specific surface area, excellent biodegradability, low cost, and high sustainability, cellulose nanofibrils/nanofibers (CNFs) have been widely used for environmental science applications in the last years. In this review, we summarize the advance in the design, synthesis, and water purification applications of CNF-based functional nanomaterials. To achieve this aim, we firstly introduce the synthesis and functionalization of CNFs, which are further extended for the formation of CNF hybrid materials by combining with other functional nanoscale building blocks, such as polymers, biomolecules, nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and two-dimensional (2D) materials. Then, the fabrication methods of CNF-based 2D membranes/films, three-dimensional (3D) hydrogels, and 3D aerogels are presented. Regarding the environmental science applications, CNF-based nanomaterials for the removal of metal ions, anions, organic dyes, oils, and bio-contents are demonstrated and discussed in detail. Finally, the challenges and outlooks in this promising research field are discussed. It is expected that this topical review will guide and inspire the design and fabrication of CNF-based novel nanomaterials with high sustainability for practical applications.

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ANISOTROPIC HARDNESS ESTIMATIONS OF SOME INORGANIC FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS

Functional Materials Letters ◽

10.1142/s1793604712500038 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 05 (01) ◽

pp. 1250003 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

PENG YANG ◽

KEYAN LI ◽

DONGFENG XUE

Keyword(s):

Functional Materials ◽

Inorganic Materials ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Functional Applications ◽

First Time

For the first time, this work indicates that mechanical concerns of inorganic materials are highly demanded when well optimizing their functional applications. We quantitatively give the proper data of hardness on different planes of some representative inorganic functional materials including borides, carbides, nitrides and oxides. This work clearly indicates mechanical importance in studying functionality of inorganic materials, and provides people guidance in the practical applications of these materials.

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