In this work, B and K were introduced into the heptazine structure of carbon nitride to synthesize the catalyst kalium-boron doped carbon nitride (KBCN) with a larger light absorption range and improved photogenerated carrier separation rate. Boron atoms are introduced into the carbon nitride heptazine units to optimize the electronic structure within the carbon nitride planes, and the B-N bonds formed by the heptazine units facilitate charge transfer. Potassium atoms are introduced into the carbon nitride interlayer as charge transfer channels to synergistically promote the transfer of photogenerated electrons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe demand for efficient separation techniques in industries dealing with high viscosity emulsions has surged due to their widespread applications in various scenarios, including emulsion-based drug delivery systems, the removal of emulsified impurities in formulations and oil spill remediation. However, membrane fouling is a major challenge for conventional separation methods, leading to decreased efficiency and increased maintenance costs. Herein, a novel approach is reported by constructing liquid-like surfaces with double anti-fouling structure, incorporating soft nanomicelles within a rigid, chemically cross-linked network for both anti-membrane-fouling and effective viscous water-in-oil emulsion separation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe conversion of solar energy into heat for seawater desalination is emerging as a promising method. However, it requires further research on light absorption, thermal management, and salt deposition to improve water evaporation rates. This study introduces a 3D solar evaporator inspired by jellyfish utilizing honeycomb fabric (HF), which capitalizes on a synergistic effect between the periodically arranged concave unit structure and the Chinese ink and carbon black particles (ink@CB), achieving up to 98% light absorption with ink@CB-HF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite significant progress in tissue engineering, the full regeneration of chronic wounds persists as a major challenge, with the immune response to tissue damage being a key determinant of the healing process's quality and duration. Post-injury, a crucial aspect is the transition of macrophages from a pro-inflammatory state to an anti-inflammatory. Thus, this alteration in macrophage polarization presents an enticing avenue within the realm of regenerative medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGraphitic carbon nitride (gCN) is an attractive photocatalyst for solar energy conversion due to its unique electronic structure and chemical stability. However, gCN generally suffers from insufficient light absorption and rapid compounding of photogenerated charges. The introduction of defects and atomic doping can optimize the electronic structure of gCN and improve the light absorption and carrier separation efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe membrane fouling derived from the accumulated dust pollutants and highly viscous oily particles causes irreversible damage to the filtration performance of air filters and results in a significant reduction in their service life. However, it is still challenging to construct high-efficiency and antifouling air filtration membranes with recyclable regeneration. Herein, the fluorine-free amphiphobic micro/nanofiber composite membrane was controllably constructed by integrating click chemistry reaction and electrospinning technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetal-doping is a common strategy for establishing active sites on photocatalyst, but appropriately exposing them for maximized atomic utilization remains a great challenge in photocatalytic research. Herein, we propose a metal organic framework (MOF)-assisted approach to synthesis copper-modified titania (Cu-TiO/Cu) photocatalyst with homogenously distributed and highly accessible active sites in its matrix. Significantly, an MOF precursor, namely NH-MIL-125, with co-chelation of titania (Ti) and copper (Cu) was subjected to mild calcination, subsequently results in Cu-modified TiO with highly accessible channels to its inner surface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtmospheric water harvesting (AWH) has been broadly exploited to meet the challenge of water shortage. Despite the significant achievements of AWH, the leakage of hydroscopic salt during the AWH process hinders its practical applications. Herein, inspired by the unique selective permeability of the phospholipid bilayer, a sandwich structural (hydrophobic-hydrophilic-hydrophobic) polyacrylonitrile nanofibrous membrane (San-PAN) was fabricated for AWH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of conversion-typed anodes with ultrafast charging and large energy storage is quite challenging due to the sluggish ions/electrons transfer kinetics in bulk materials and fracture of the active materials. Herein, the design of porous carbon nanofibers/SnS composite (SnS @N-HPCNFs) for high-rate energy storage, where the ultrathin SnS nanosheets are nanoconfined in N-doped carbon nanofibers with tunable void spaces, is reported. The highly interconnected carbon nanofibers in three-dimensional (3D) architecture provide a fast electron transfer pathway and alleviate the volume expansion of SnS , while their hierarchical porous structure facilitates rapid ion diffusion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIron-modified Ni(OH)/NiSe enhances oxygen vacancies, expanding the electrochemically active surface area, which exhibiting superior selectivity and stability in urea oxidation reaction, outperforming pristine Ni(OH)@NiSe. It also demonstrates superior catalytic performance in the oxidation reactions of other small molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFrequent offshore oil leakage accidents and large quantities of oily-wastewater produced in industry and daily life bring huge challenges to global water purification. The adaptability and stability of organogels as adsorbent materials have shown wide application prospects in the field of oil-water separation. Herein, the organogels displayed stable hydrophobic/lipophilic properties with high absorption ability (1200 wt.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtmospheric water harvesting is a promising approach for obtaining freshwater resources, but achieving high levels of light absorption, hygroscopic capacity, and desorption efficiency simultaneously remains a challenge. In this study, we developed an innovative atmospheric water harvester that incorporates a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel and a polydopamine/polypyrrole-modified 3D raised-fabric. The interlacing structure and polydopamine/polypyrrole synergistically enhance the harvester's photothermal conversion capability, while the hydrogel-modified raised-fabric with its increased pore structure and high specific surface area ensures effective contact between the internal adsorbent and external moisture, thereby improving moisture capture and storage capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDedusting is crucial for air pollution control, and nonwoven needle felt (NWNF) bag-filters are widely applied for this purpose. Surface treatment of the filter materials can enhance NWNF's performance, but the large discrepancy in pore size between the surface and NWNF layers causes interface effects, impairing reverse cleaning and shortening service life. In this study, a novel PTFE membrane-laminated asymmetrical composite bag-filter was developed, by blending superfine polyphenylene sulfide fiber (PPS) in the original NWNF structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbstract: Air pollution caused by the rapid development of industry has always been a great issue to the environment and human being's health. However, the efficient and persistent filtration to PM remains a great challenge. Herein, a self-powered filter with micro-nano composite structure composed of polybutanediol succinate (PBS) nanofiber membrane and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber/polystyrene (PS) microfiber hybrid mats was prepared by electrospinning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExploring eco-friendly and cost-effective strategies for structure engineering at the nanoscale is important for boosting heterogeneous catalysis but still under a long-standing challenge. Herein, multifunctional polyphenol tannic acid, a low-cost natural biomass containing catechol and galloyl species, was employed as a green reducing agent, chelating agent, and stabilizer to prepare Au nanoparticles, which were dispersed on different-shaped CeO supports (, rod, flower, cube, and octahedral). Systematic characterizations revealed that Au/CeO-rod had the highest oxygen vacancy density and Ce(III) proportion, favoring the dispersion and stabilization of the metal active sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogen has a high energy density of approximately 120 to 140 MJ kg, which is very high compared to other natural energy sources. However, hydrogen generation through electrocatalytic water splitting is a high electricity consumption process due to the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER). As a result, hydrogen generation through hydrazine-assisted water electrolysis has recently been intensively investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRapid and efficient cleaning of oily wastewater and high viscosity crude oil spills is still a global challenge. Conventional three-dimensional porous adsorbents are ineffective for oil-water separation in harsh environment and are restricted to the low fluidity of high viscosity crude oil at room temperature. Increasing temperature can enormously improve the fluidity of viscous crude oil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogel-based conductive materials for smart wearable devices have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent flexibility, versatility, and outstanding biocompatibility. This review presents the recent advances in multifunctional conductive hydrogels for electronic devices. First, conductive hydrogels with different components are discussed, including pure single network hydrogels based on conductive polymers, single network hydrogels with additional conductive additives (, nanoparticles, nanowires, and nanosheets), double network hydrogels based on conductive polymers, and double network hydrogels with additional conductive additives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs an effective way to obtain freshwater resources, atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) technology has been a wide concern of researchers. Therefore, hydrogels gradually become key materials for atmospheric water harvesters due to their high specific surface area and three-dimensional porous structure. Here, we construct a core-shell hydrogel-based atmospheric water harvesting material consisting of a shell sodium polyacrylate (PAAS) hydrogel with an open pore structure and a core thermosensitive poly -isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAAm) hydrogel with a large pore size.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDesulfurization sorbent with a high active component utilization is of importance for the removal of HS from coal gas at high temperatures. Thus, the hypothesis for producing ZnCoO/carbon nanofiber sorbents via the combinations of electrospinning, in situ hydrothermal growth, and carbonization technique has been rationally constructed in this study. ZnCoO nanoparticles derived from metal-organic frameworks are uniformly loaded on the electrospun carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with high dispersion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWearable strain sensors have aroused increasing interest in human motion monitoring, even for the detection of small physiological signals such as joint movement and pulse. Stable monitoring of underwater human motion for a long time is still a notable challenge, as electronic devices can lose their effectiveness in a wet environment. In this study, a superhydrophobic and conductive knitted polyester fabric-based strain sensor was fabricated via dip coating of graphene oxide and polydimethylsiloxane micro/nanoparticles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFluorine-free liquid-repellent coatings have been highly demanded for a variety of applications. However, rapid formation of coatings possessing outstanding oil repellency and strong bonding ability as well as good mechanical strength (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
August 2022
To date, multifunctional sensors have aroused widespread concerns owing to their vital roles in the healthcare area. However, there are still significant challenges in the fabrication of functionalized integrated devices. In this work, hydrophobic-hydrophilic patterns are constructed on polyester-spandex-blended knitted fabric surface by the chemical click method, enabling accurate deposition of functionalized materials for sensitive and stable motion and humidity sensing.
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