Defect Engineered BiTe Nanosheets with Enhanced Haloperoxidase Activity for Marine Antibiofouling.

Defective bismuth telluride (BiTe) nanosheets, an artificial nanozyme mimicking haloperoxidase activity (hPOD), show promise as eco-friendly, bactericidal, and antimicrofouling materials by enhancing cytotoxic hypohalous acid production from halides and HO. Microscopic and spectroscopic characterization reveals that controlled NaOH (upto X = 250 µL) etching of the nearly inactive non-transition metal chalcogenide BiTe nanosheets creates controlled defects (d), such as Bispecies, in d-BiTe-X that induces enhanced hPOD activity. d-BiTe-250 exhibits approximately eight-fold improved hPOD than the as-grown BiTe nanosheets.

Gamma Ray Irradiation Enhances the Linkage of Cotton Fabrics Coated with ZnO Nanoparticles.

In this work, we aim to study zinc oxide (ZnO)-based functional materials over cotton fabrics and their effects after gamma ray exposure of 9 kGy. We found that the binding of the nanoparticles with cotton fabrics can be enhanced after irradiation. This could be due to the oxygen deficiency or defects created in the interface between ZnO and cotton fabrics after irradiation.

Photosensitized reactive chlorine species-mediated therapeutic destruction of drug-resistant bacteria using plasmonic core-shell Ag@AgCl nanocubes as an external nanomedicine.

Due to the rapid growth of drug-resistant bacterial infections, there is an urgent need to develop innovative antimicrobial strategies to conquer the bacterial antibiotic resistance problems. Although a few nanomaterial-based antimicrobial strategies have been developed, the sensitized formation of cytotoxic reactive chlorine species (RCS), including chlorine gas and chlorine free radicals, by photo-activatable plasmonic nanoparticles for evading drug-resistant bacterial infections has not yet been reported. To address this challenge, herein, we report the synthesis of an unprecedented plasmonic core-shell Ag@AgCl nanocrystal through an in situ oxidation route for the photo-induced generation of highly cytotoxic RCS.