Low cost nanomechanical surfaces stress based sensors fabricated by hybrid materials

The immobilization of inorganic nanomaterials on polymeric substrates has been drawing a lot of attention in recent years owing to the extraordinary properties of the as-obtained materials. The hybrid materials, indeed, combine the benefits of the plastic matter such as flexibility, low-cost, mechanical stability and high durability, with them deriving from their inorganic counterparts. In particular, if the inorganic fillers are nanostructured photocatalysts, the originated hybrid systems will be able to utilize the energy delivered by light, catalysing chemical reactions in a sustainable pathway. Most importantly, since the nanofillers can be ad-hoc anchored to the macromolecular structure, their release in the environment will be prevented, thus overcoming one of the main restrictions that impedes their applications on a large scale. In this review, several typologies of hybrid photocatalytic nanomaterials, obtained by using both organic and inorganic semiconductors and realized with different synthetic protocols, were reported and discussed. In the first part of the manuscript, nanocomposites realized by simply blending the TiO2 or ZnO nanomaterials in thermoplastic polymeric matrices are illustrated. Subsequently, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique is presented as an excellent method to formulate polymeric nanocomposites. Successively, some examples of polyporphyrins hybrid systems containing graphene, acting as photocatalysts under visible light irradiation, are discussed. Lastly, photocatalytic polymeric nanosponges, with extraordinary adsorption properties, are shown. All the described materials were deeply characterized and their photocatalytic abilities were evaluated by the degradation of several organic water pollutants such as dyes, phenol, pesticides, drugs, and personal care products. The antibacterial performance was also evaluated for selected systems. The relevance of the obtained results is widely overviewed, opening the route for the application of such multifunctional photocatalytic hybrid materials in wastewater remediation.

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Innovative Low-Cost Carbon/ZnO Hybrid Materials with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity towards Organic Pollutant Dyes’ Removal

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano10091873 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 1873

Author(s):

Petronela Pascariu ◽

Niculae Olaru ◽

Aurelian Rotaru ◽

Anton Airinei

Keyword(s):

Photocatalytic Activity ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Structural Characteristics ◽

Low Cost ◽

Organic Pollutant ◽

Zno Nanostructures ◽

Zno Nanocrystals ◽

Electrospinning Method ◽

New Type

A new type of material based on carbon/ZnO nanostructures that possesses both adsorption and photocatalytic properties was obtained in three stages: cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) microfiber mats prepared by the electrospinning method, ZnO nanostructures growth by dipping and hydrothermal methods, and finally thermal calcination at 600 °C in N2 for 30 min. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the structural characteristics. It was found that ZnO possesses a hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structure. The ZnO nanocrystals with star-like and nanorod shapes were evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. A significant decrease in Eg value was found for carbon/ZnO hybrid materials (2.51 eV) as compared to ZnO nanostructures (3.21 eV). The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by studying the degradation of three dyes, Methylene Blue (MB), Rhodamine B (RhB) and Congo Red (CR) under visible-light irradiation. Therefore, the maximum color removal efficiency (both adsorption and photocatalytic processes) was: 97.97% of MB (C0 = 10 mg/L), 98.34% of RhB (C0 = 5 mg/L), and 91.93% of CR (C0 = 10 mg/L). Moreover, the value of the rate constant (k) was found to be 0.29 × 10−2 min−1. The novelty of this study relies on obtaining new photocatalysts based on carbon/ZnO using cheap and accessible raw materials, and low-cost preparation techniques.

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Review on Carbon/Polyaniline Hybrids: Design and Synthesis for Supercapacitor

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules24122263 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (12) ◽

pp. 2263 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Xiaoning Wang ◽

Dan Wu ◽

Xinhui Song ◽

Wei Du ◽

Xiangjin Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Storage ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Active Sites ◽

High Performance ◽

Electrode Materials ◽

Carbon Materials ◽

Low Cost ◽

Specific Capacity ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Combine Carbon

Polyaniline has been widely used in high-performance pseudocapacitors, due to its low cost, easy synthesis, and high theoretical specific capacitance. However, the poor mechanical properties of polyaniline restrict its further development. Compared with polyaniline, functionalized carbon materials have excellent physical and chemical properties, such as porous structures, excellent specific surface area, good conductivity, and accessibility to active sites. However, it should not be neglected that the specific capacity of carbon materials is usually unsatisfactory. There is an effective strategy to combine carbon materials with polyaniline by a hybridization approach to achieve a positive synergistic effect. After that, the energy storage performance of carbon/polyaniline hybridization material has been significantly improved, making it a promising and important electrode material for supercapacitors. To date, significant progress has been made in the synthesis of various carbon/polyaniline binary composite electrode materials. In this review, the corresponding properties and applications of polyaniline and carbon hybrid materials in the energy storage field are briefly reviewed. According to the classification of different types of functionalized carbon materials, this article focuses on the recent progress in carbon/polyaniline hybrid materials, and further analyzes their corresponding properties to provide guidance for the design, synthesis, and component optimization for high-performance supercapacitors.

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Novel POSS-based organic–inorganic hybrid porous materials by low cost strategies

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/c4ta06963c ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (12) ◽

pp. 6542-6548 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Shaolei Wang ◽

Liangxiao Tan ◽

Chengxin Zhang ◽

Irshad Hussain ◽

Bien Tan

Keyword(s):

Porous Materials ◽

Surface Area ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Low Cost ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Bet Surface Area ◽

Coupling Reactions ◽

Inorganic Hybrid ◽

Oligomeric Silsesquioxane ◽

First Time

Two kinds of POSS-based organic–inorganic hybrid porous materials have been synthesized via Friedel–Crafts and Scholl coupling reactions, for the first time, using low-cost building blocks i.e., octaphenylsilsesquioxanes and simple knitting approaches to obtain high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area porous polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based hybrid materials.

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A smart nanofibrous material for adsorbing and detecting elemental mercury in air

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-17-6883-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (11) ◽

pp. 6883-6893 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Antonella Macagnano ◽

Viviana Perri ◽

Emiliano Zampetti ◽

Andrea Bearzotti ◽

Fabrizio De Cesare ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gold Nanoparticles ◽

Electrical Properties ◽

Low Power ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Low Cost ◽

Air Sampling ◽

Elemental Mercury ◽

Environmental Applications ◽

Gaseous Elemental Mercury

Abstract. The combination of the affinity of gold for mercury and nanosized frameworks has allowed for the design and fabrication of novel kinds of sensors with promising sensing features for environmental applications. Specifically, conductive sensors based on composite nanofibrous electrospun layers of titania easily decorated with gold nanoparticles were developed to obtain nanostructured hybrid materials capable of entrapping and revealing gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) traces from the environment. The electrical properties of the resulting chemosensors were measured. A few minutes of air sampling were sufficient to detect the concentration of mercury in the air, ranging between 20 and 100 ppb, without using traps or gas carriers (LOD: 1.5 ppb). Longer measurements allowed the sensor to detect lower concentrations of GEM. The resulting chemosensors are expected to be low cost and very stable (due to the peculiar structure), requiring low power, low maintenance, and simple equipment.

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3D hierarchical porous hybrid nanostructure of carbon nanotubes and N-doped activated carbon

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-75831-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Piotr Kamedulski ◽

Wojciech Zielinski ◽

Pawel Nowak ◽

Jerzy P. Lukaszewicz ◽

Anna Ilnicka

Keyword(s):

Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Activated Carbon ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Low Cost ◽

Structure Type ◽

Photoelectron Spectra ◽

Carbon Surface ◽

Outer Diameter ◽

Multiwalled Carbon ◽

Hierarchical Porous

Abstract In this work, carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/nitrogen-doped activated carbon (AC) hybrids were designed and fabricated using a facile and one-step synthesis. The synthesis of CNTs is based on the recently discovered phenomenon of thermally-induced polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA) conversion. Hybrid materials are fabricated through the in-situ free growth of closed carbon nanotubes on low-cost activated carbon substrates which were obtained from green algae or amino acids. Herein, three types of carbon nanotubes were observed to freely grow on an activated carbon background from Chlorella vulgaris or l-lysine, types such as multiwalled carbon and bamboo-like nanotubes, whose structure depends on the background used and conditions of the synthesis. Structure type is identified by analyzing transmission electron microscopy images. HRTEM images reveal the tubes’ outer diameter to be in the range of 20–120 nm. Because the carbon surface for the growth of carbon tubes contains nitrogen, the final hybrid materials also possess pyridinic-N and quaternary-N groups, as indicated by X-ray photoelectron spectra.

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Papain/Zn3(PO4)2 hybrid nanoflower: preparation, characterization and its enhanced catalytic activity as an immobilized enzyme

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/c6ra05308d ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (52) ◽

pp. 46702-46710 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Baoliang Zhang ◽

Peitao Li ◽

Hepeng Zhang ◽

Lili Fan ◽

Hai Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Catalytic Activity ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Immobilized Enzyme ◽

Low Cost

Flower-like papain/Zn3(PO4)2 hybrid materials are synthesized via a facile, rapid and low-cost method in this study.

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Zero-Dimensional Plate-shaped Copper Halide Crystals with Green-yellow Emission

Materials Advances ◽

10.1039/d1ma00061f ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Feng Liu ◽

Debayan Mondal ◽

Kai Zhang ◽

Ying Zhang ◽

Keke Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Low Cost ◽

Yellow Emission ◽

Copper Halide

Low-cost and eco-friendly metal hybrid materials with zero dimensional (0D) structure have recently attracted increasing attention owing to their excellent optical properties and widely applications. However, successful examples of 0D...

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TiO2-Chitosan Hybrid Materials for Drug Delivery Applications: Conjugation Reaction with a Model Drug and Evaluation of the Functional Properties

Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology ◽

10.1166/jnn.2021.19050 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (5) ◽

pp. 2892-2900

Author(s):

Giuseppina Cerrato ◽

Gianmario Martra ◽

Guido Viscardi ◽

Michela Signoretto

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Maleic Anhydride ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Low Cost ◽

Antibacterial Properties ◽

Chemical Characterization ◽

Molar Absorptivity ◽

Ph Sensitive ◽

Stimuli Responsive ◽

Model Drug

The combination of TiO2 and chitosan is known to allow the achievement of implantable devices which combines the mechanical properties of TiO2, with the presence of chitosan, which ensures antibacterial properties combined with an in-situ drug-delivery of biomolecules physisorbed and/or covalently linked to chitosan. In this study, 5-aminofluorescein (5-AF), a derivative of fluorescein containing a primary amino group, has been used as model molecule to simulate a drug. This dye is characterized by low cost and low toxicity, and due to its high molar absorptivity it can easily be detected by means of absorption and emission spectroscopies. The combination of 5-AF and maleic anhydride (MA) with TiO2-chitosan materials has generated a range of novel hybrid materials tailored to applications in localized stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems. Maleic anhydride has been used as pH sensitive spacer for the covalent functionalization of the TiO2-chitosan hybrid with MA as linker molecule. This functionalization allowed to obtain a pH-sensitive hybrid material. The efficiency of the functionalization has been verified by means of different physico-chemical characterization techniques. The behaviour of the functionalized materials is related to different parameters, among which the ratio between physisorbed/coordinated and chemisorbed 5-AF and the matrix degradation. Moreover, delivery tests in simulated body solutions at different pH have been performed showing a pH-sensitive drug delivery behaviour and indicating that the release of 5-AF is favoured at basic pH.

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Adsorption of Copper (II) from Aqueous Solutions with Alginate/Clay Hybrid Materials

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14237187 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (23) ◽

pp. 7187

Author(s):

Maria Râpă ◽

Anca Andreea Ţurcanu ◽

Ecaterina Matei ◽

Andra Mihaela Predescu ◽

Mircea Cristian Pantilimon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Particle Size ◽

Hybrid Materials ◽

Hybrid Composite ◽

Low Cost ◽

Absorption Spectrometry ◽

Point Of Zero Charge ◽

Batch Adsorption ◽

Order Kinetic ◽

Composite Beads ◽

Order Kinetic Model

Massive amounts of industrial and agricultural water around the world are polluted by various types of contaminants that harm the environment and affect human health. Alginic acid is a very versatile green polymer used for heavy metal adsorption due to its availability, biocompatibility, low cost, and non-toxic characteristics. The aim of this paper was to prepare new low-cost hybrid composite beads using sodium alginate with treated montmorillonite and kaolin for the adsorption of copper (Cu) cations. Modified and unmodified clays were investigated by studying their morphology and elemental composition, functional groups, and mean particle size and particle size distribution. The characterization of alginate/clay hybrid composite beads was carried out by evaluating surface morphology (by scanning electron microscopy, SEM), crystallinity (by X-ray diffraction, XRD), and point of zero charge (pHpzc)(Zeta Potential Analyzer). Batch adsorption experiments of alginate/clay hybrid composite beads investigated the effect of metal concentration in the range of 1–4 mg L−1 on Cu(II) removal, adsorption kinetic for maximum 240 min, and Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms by using atomic absorption spectrometry. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model best fitted the adsorption for alginate/montmorillonite beads (R2 = 0.994), while the diffusion process was predominant for montmorillonite/kaolin beads (R2 = 0.985). The alginate/clay hybrid materials best fitted the Langmuir isotherm model.

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