Strong and Tough Cellulose Hydrogels via Solution Annealing and Dual Cross-Linking.

Strong and tough hydrogels are promising candidates for flexible electronics, biomedical devices, and so on. However, the conflict between improving the mechanical strength and toughness properties of polysaccharide-based hydrogels remains unsolved. Herein, a strategy is proposed to produce a hierarchically structured cellulose hydrogel that combines solution annealing and dual cross-linking treatment approaches.

Fluorescent Amphiphilic Quaternized β-Chitin: Antibacterial Mechanism and Cell Imaging.

Fluorescent materials span multiple applications from biological probes and chemical sensing to optoelectronic systems. Although great efforts have been made toward developing classes of fluorescent materials, 100,000+ traditional fluorescent dyes still suffer from the obstacle of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). Thus, designing fluorescent materials with excellent optical performance from ACQ luminogens remains challenging.

Versatile synthesis, characterization and properties of β-chitin derivatives from aqueous KOH/urea solution.

Chitin is the second most abundant natural polysaccharide with biocompatibility, biodegradability, and bioactivity. Homogeneous modification of chitin is an efficient way to improve or to impart new properties to chitin. Here, amide-modified β-chitin (AMC), hydroxyethyl β-chitin (HEC), and hydroxybutyl β-chitin (HBC) through Michael addition, Williamson reaction, and ring-opening addition, were homogeneously synthesized from aqueous KOH/urea solution, respectively, with controlled structures and uniform properties.

Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization grafting from nanoporous cellulose gels to create hydrophobic nanocomposites.

Here, we present the preparation of hydrophobic nanoporous cellulose gel--poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (NCG--PGMA) nanocomposites by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) monomers and hydrophobic modification with pentadecafluorooctanoyl chloride (CFCOCl) on the cellulose nanofibrils of the NCG. The successful grafting of PGMA and hydrophobic modification of CFCO- groups on the NCG was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed that the SI-ATRP and hydrophobic modification did not change the microscopic morphology and structure of the NCG--PGMA nanocomposites.