Combined Analysis of Metabolomics and Biochemical Changes Reveals the Nutritional and Functional Characteristics of Red Palm Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Larvae at Different Developmental Stages.

In this study, the changes in the conventional nutrient and mineral compositions as well as the metabolomics characteristics of the red palm weevil (RPW) Olivier (Curculionidae: Coleoptera) larvae at early (EL), middle (ML) and old (OL) developmental stages were investigated. Results showed that the EL and ML had the highest content of protein (53.87 g/100 g dw) and fat (67.

Versatile Deprotonation-Induced Exfoliation and Functionalization of Biological Nanofibrils for Actuation and Fluorescence.

Biological nanofibrils not only are characteristic of many species of biomasses but also serve as a promising type of sustainable nanomaterials for various applications. However, their production has long relied on an invasive and energy-consuming mechanical shear. A noninvasive and versatile approach remains challenging to exfoliate different types of biomasses into nanofibrils.

In Situ Growth of MOF from Wood Aerogel toward Bromide Ion Adsorption in Simulated Saline Water.

Utilizing metal-organic framework (MOF) materials for the extraction of bromide ions (Br) from aqueous solutions, as an alternative to chlorine gas oxidation technology, holds promising potential for future applications. However, the limitations of powdered MOFs, such as low utilization efficiency, ease of aggregation in water, and challenging recovery processes, have hindered their practical application. Shaping MOF materials into application-oriented forms represents an effective but challenging approach to address these drawbacks.

Constructing high-density crack-microstructures within MXene interlayers for ultrasensitive and superhydrophobic cellulosic fibers-based sensors.

Incorporating biopolymers into two-dimensional transition metal carbides and/or nitrides (2D MXene) has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to improve the mechanical behaviors of MXene-based composites. However, the insulate nature of biopolymers inevitably deteriorated the electrical conductivity and the sensitivity of assembled sensors. Herein, a novel cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/MXene/carbon black (CB) composite was demonstrated as the conductive layer in eco-friendly cellulose paper-based sensors by intercalating the CB into the MXene/CNF interlayer, followed by coating hydrophobic SiO for encapsulation.

Virulence of entomopathogenic bacteria against the red palm weevil, (Olivier).

Background: The red palm weevil (RPW), (Olivier), is an important quarantine pest, which has caused serious economic losses in various palm species, such as coconut, oil palm and date palm. Finding effective biocontrol resources is important for the control of this pest and the protection of palm crops.

Methods: A pathogenic strain HJ-01 was isolated from infected and dead pupa of using tissue separation method.

Tough and Photo-Plastic Liquid Crystal Elastomer with a 2-Fold Dynamic Linker for Artificial Muscles.

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) have been optimized by combining cross-linkers and dynamic bonds to achieve a reversible actuation behavior comparable to living skeletal muscles. In this study, one unique type of segment with 2-fold dynamic properties was introduced into LCEs, which offered not only dynamic diselenide covalent bonds for thermo-/photoplasticity but also H-bond arrays for dynamic cross-linking and mechanical robustness. Besides self-healing, self-welding, and recyclability, the LCEs were reprogrammable with elevated temperature or intensive visible light irradiation.

Phosphine-Promoted Tandem Intermolecular Diels-Alder Reactions with Pentadienyl 4-Nitrobenzoate as a Diene Precursor.

A phosphine-promoted tandem Diels-Alder reaction using pentadienyl 4-nitrobenzoate (α-vinyl MBH adduct) as a diene precursor with 3-olefinic oxindoles or CF-activated ketones as dienophiles has been developed. The reaction proceeds through the formation of a pentadienyl phosphonium intermediate via S2'' addition, which acts as both a D-A diene and a precursor for the exomethylene moiety. This method offers a metal-free and step-efficient approach for synthesizing exomethylene-bearing spirooxindoles and dihydropyrans, which are privileged structures found in natural products.

Biofibrous nanomaterials for extracting strategic metal ions from water.

Strategic metals play an indispensable role in the related industries. Their extraction and recovery from water are of great significance due to both their rapid consumption and environmental concern. Biofibrous nanomaterials have shown great advantages in capturing metal ions from water.

Thermal-needle-triggered cascade reduction of graphene oxide for controllable moving trajectory into conductive patterns.

We showed graphene patterning could be triggered with a thermal needle and controlled through pre-infiltrating certain materials into graphene oxide (GO) substrates. With an appropriate O/C molar ratio of GO (≥0.4) and physical density (≥3 mg cm), a cascade reduction reaction of GO films/aerogels was triggered by a needle with a temperature as low as 195 °C and propagated at a high rate of up to ∼320 mm s.

Encapsulating Amidoximated Nanofibrous Aerogels within Wood Cell Tracheids for Efficient Cascading Adsorption of Uranium Ions.

Continuous filtering adsorption has drawn growing interest in the exploration of uranium resources in seawater and reduction in the environmental risks of uraniferous wastewater from nuclear industries. For most filtering adsorbents, repeated filtration, high membrane thickness, and high pressure are normally essential to achieve both a high rejection ratio and high filtration flux. Herein cellulose fibrils were preferentially exfoliated from the lignin-poor layer of secondary cell walls of balsa wood during an amidoximation process.

Amyloid-templated polydopamine nanofibers for catecholic immobilization of catalytic noble metal nanoparticles.

Dopamine molecules were oxidized and self-polymerized into nanofibers a template of lysozyme amyloid nanofibrils. The catechol groups adsorbed noble metal ions on the surface of the PDA nanofibers and reduced them into metallic nanoparticles with excellent catalytic activities. This study will not only pave a green way for fabricating 1D nanostructures biological templates, but also provide a unique opportunity for preparation and immobilization of noble metal nanocatalysts.

Mildly Peeling Off and Encapsulating Large MXene Nanosheets with Rigid Biologic Fibrils for Synchronization of Solar Evaporation and Energy Harvest.

Efficient and nondestructive liquid exfoliation of MXene with large lateral size has drawn growing research interest due to its outstanding properties and diverse potential applications. The conventional sonication method, though enabling a high production yield of MXene nanosheets, broke them down into submicrometric sizes or even quantum dots, and thus sacrificed their size-dependent properties, chemical stability, and wide applications. Herein, rigid biological nanofibrils in combination of mild manual shake were found to be capable of peeling off MXene nanosheets by attaching on MXene surfaces and localizing the shear force.

Interfacial Electrochemical Polymerization for Spinning Liquid Metals into Core-Shell Wires.

Metal wires are of great significance in applications such as three-dimensional (3D) printing, soft electronics, optics, and metamaterials. Ga-based liquid metals (e.g.

Iridescent coating of graphene oxide on various substrates.

Two-dimensional nanomaterials have been incorporated into coating layers for exceptional properties in mechanic toughness, electronics, thermology and optics. Graphene oxide (GO), however, was greatly hindered by its strong adsorption within visible wavelength and hereby the intrinsic dark color at the solid state. Herein, we found a unique aqueous mixture of GO containing sodium dodecyl sulfate and l-ascorbic acid.

Design of MXene Composites with Biomimetic Rapid and Self-Oscillating Actuation under Ambient Circumstances.

Although responsive actuators have been intensively investigated, it remains challenging to enable rapid and self-oscillating actuation under ambient circumstances without human intervention analogous to living organisms. By hybridizing a unique type of two-dimensional nanomaterials (i.e.

Liquid Metal Initiator of Ring-Opening Polymerization: Self-Capsulation into Thermal/Photomoldable Powder for Multifunctional Composites.

Liquid metal nanodroplets not only share similar metallic properties and nanoscale effect with solid metal nanoparticles, but also possess the additional uniqueness in nonvolatile fluidity and ambient sintering ability into continuous conductors. In most cases, liquid metal nanodroplets are encapsulated into ultrathin and fragile shells of oxides and amphiphile monolayers, and may be hindered from incorporating homogeneously into various composites through conventional processing methods. In this study, ring-opening polymerization is found to be initiated by sonicating the liquid metal EGaIn in fluidic lactones.

Quaternized Silk Nanofibrils for Electricity Generation from Moisture and Ion Rectification.

Protein nanostructures in living organisms have attracted intense interests in biology and material science owing to their intriguing abilities to harness ion transportation for matter/signal transduction and bioelectricity generation. Silk nanofibrils, serving as the fundamental building blocks for silk, not only have the advantages of natural abundance, low cost, biocompatibility, sustainability, and degradability but also play a key role in mechanical toughness and biological functions of silk fibers. Herein, cationic silk nanofibrils (SilkNFs), with an ultrathin thickness of ∼4 nm and a high aspect ratio up to 500, were successfully exfoliated from natural cocoon fibers quaternization followed by mechanical homogenization.

The synthesis of high-aspect-ratio Au microwires with a biomolecule for electrochemical sensing.

Gold (Au) crystalline microwires with an unprecedented diameter of >500 nm and an aspect ratio >400 were synthesized using l-tyrosine as a reducing and capping agent. The Au microwires possessed high conductivity and electrocatalytic activities towards glucose and Hg(ii). Their large diameters and aspect ratios also offered maneuverability, and it was easy to produce Au microelectrodes.

Noncloggingly Sieving Sub-6 nm Nanoparticles of Noble Metals into Conductive Mesoporous Foams with Biological Nanofibrils.

Porous metal foams have been one of the most sought-after materials owing to their combination of bulk metallic characteristics (, thermal/electrical conductivity and ductility) and nanometric size-effect properties (, catalytic reactivity, plasmonic behavior, and high surface area). Traditional sol-gel approaches, though one of the most frequently used method to produce mesoporous metal foams, were hindered for scalable production and wide applications because of its tedious multistep procedure, time-consuming gelation time, and polydisperse pore sizes. Herein, by depositing biological nanofibrils (chitin, cellulose, and silk) on commercial filtration membranes, we report a facile approach to sieve and recycle sub-6 nm nanoparticles of noble metals (Au and Pt) nonclogging filtration into three-dimensional (3D) networks with interconnected mesopores.

Evaporation-induced sintering of liquid metal droplets with biological nanofibrils for flexible conductivity and responsive actuation.

Liquid metal (LM) droplets show the superiority in coalescing into integral liquid conductors applicable in flexible and deformable electronics. However, the large surface tension, oxide shells and poor compatibility with most other materials may prevent spontaneous coalescence of LM droplets and/or hybridisation into composites, unless external interventions (e.g.

Inhibiting and catalysing amyloid fibrillation at dynamic lipid interfaces.

Proteins are naturally exposed to diverse interfaces in living organisms, from static solid to dynamic fluid. Solid interfaces can enrich proteins as corona, and then catalyze, retard or hinder amyloid fibrillation. But fluid interfaces abundant in biology have rarely been studied for their correlation with protein fibrillation.

Separation of Caustic Nano-Emulsions and Macromolecular Conformations with Nanofibrous Membranes of Marine Chitin.

Sustainable development of nanotechnology is challenged by nanoscale pollutants and oily water. Biobased nanoporous membranes, though serving as one of the most eco-friendly separation technologies, cannot be applied widely because of their broad pore distributions, poor solvent resistance, and structural instability. In order to avoid possible leakage of nanoscale objects in caustic and organic solvents, herein, we endeavored to exfoliate chitin nanofibrils with identical chemical and crystalline structures to pristine chitin in portunid carapace and further produce nanoporous and mesoporous membranes with super structural stability, endurance, permeation flux and rejection.

Conductive Core-Shell Aramid Nanofibrils: Compromising Conductivity with Mechanical Robustness for Organic Wearable Sensing.

One-dimensional organic nanomaterials with a combination of electric conductivity, flexibility, and mechanical robustness are highly in demand in a variety of flexible electronic devices. Herein, conducting polymers were combined with robust Kevlar nanofibrils (aramid nanofibrils, abbreviated as ANFs) via in situ polymerization. Owing to the strong interactions between ANFs and conjugated polymers, the resultant core-shell ANFs showed high electric conductivity in combination with flexibility, robustness, physical stability, and endurance to bending and solvents, in sharp contrast to many inorganic conductive nanomaterials.

Sheet-like and tubular aggregates of protein nanofibril-phosphate hybrids.

Bovine serum albumin assembled into supramolecular fibrils and aligned into microtubes and nanosheets upon simply heating and cooling its solution in phosphate buffer under carefully-selected conditions. This unique "one-batch" synthesis was justified by the one-dimensional growth of phosphate crystals in combination with the strong affinity of phosphate ions to protein fibrils.

Supramolecular proteinaceous biofilms as trapping sponges for biologic water treatment and durable catalysis.

Inspired by the bacterial biofilms and chorions of living organisms which are made by proteinaceous assemblies and functional for multi-applications, various artificial protein fibrils-based nanoporous films are developed, and show their potential applications in multiple fields. Here, a simple and environmental friendly method was identified to produce bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanofibrils based biofilms, through a combination of protein fibrillation and reverse dialysis. BSA nanofibrils formed biofilms through intermolecular interactions, the resultant biofilms showed tunable thickness by altering the initial protein amount, good stability in organic and salty solvents, transparency and fluorescence properties, hold high capacity of trapping different substances (e.