In Situ Monitoring of Mechanofluorescence in Polymeric Nanofibers.

Mechanofluorescent polymers represent a promising class of materials exhibiting fluorescence changes in response to mechanical stimuli. One approach to fabricating these polymers involves incorporating aggregachromic dyes, whose emission properties are governed by the intermolecular distance, which can, in turn, be readily altered by microstructural changes in the surrounding polymer matrix during mechanical deformation. In this study, a mechanofluorescent additive featuring excimer-forming oligo(p-phenylene vinylene) dyes (tOPV) is incorporated into electrospun polyurethane fibers, producing mats of fibers with diameters ranging from 300 to 700 nm.

Thermoactive Smart Electrospun Nanofibers.

The recent burst of research on smart materials is a clear evidence of the growing interest of the scientific community, industry, and society in the field. The exploitation of the great potential of stimuli-responsive materials for sensing, actuation, logic, and control applications is favored and supported by new manufacturing technologies, such as electrospinning, that allows to endow smart materials with micro- and nanostructuration, thus opening up additional and unprecedented prospects. In this wide and lively scenario, this article systematically reviews the current advances in the development of thermoactive electrospun fibers and textiles, sorting them, according to their response to the thermal stimulus.

Photoluminescence-Based Techniques for the Detection of Micro- and Nanoplastics.

The growing numbers related to plastic pollution are impressive, with ca. 70 % of produced plastic (>350 tonnes/year) being indiscriminately wasted in the environment. The most dangerous forms of plastic pollution for biota and human health are micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs), which are ubiquitous and more bioavailable.

Nitroxides as Building Blocks for Nanoantioxidants.

Nitroxides are an important class of radical trapping antioxidants whose promising biological activities are connected to their ability to scavenge peroxyl (ROO) radicals. We have measured the rate constants of the reaction with ROO () for a series of 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) derivatives as 5.1 × 10, 1.

Static quenching upon adduct formation: a treatment without shortcuts and approximations.

Luminescence quenching is a process exploited in transversal applications in science and technology and it has been studied for a long time. The luminescence quenching mechanisms are typically distinguished in dynamic (collisional) and static, which can require different quantitative treatments. This is particularly important - and finds broad and interdisciplinary application - when the static quenching is caused by the formation of an adduct between the luminophore - at the ground state - and the quencher.