Cost management and scalable fabrication without sacrificing the purification performance are two critical issues that should be addressed before the practical commercial application of solar-driven evaporators. To address this challenge, we report a porous photothermal hydrogel coating prepared by mixing the raw materials of sawdust (SD), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), which was applied to undergo a blading-drying-rehydration process to prepare the evaporator. In the coating, the crystallized PVA gives the coating a solid skeleton and the sawdust endows the coating with a loose structure to sufficiently enhance the water transportation capacity. As a result, the evaporator coated with the hydrogel coating displays a high water transport rate and efficient evaporation performance along with excellent mechanical properties and stability. Water migrates vertically upward 5 cm within 4 minutes. The compressive stress of the rehydrated hydrogel coating reaches as high as 14.28 MPa under 80% strain. The water evaporation rate of the hydrogel coating-based evaporator reaches 1.833 kg m h corresponding to an energy efficiency of 83.29% under 1 sun irradiation. What is more, the hydrogel coating retains its excellent evaporation performance and stability after immersion in acid or alkali solution, ultrasound treatment, and long-time immersion in water. Under outdoor conditions, the water evaporation rate of the hydrogel coating-based evaporator is about 5.69 times higher than that of pure water. This study proposes a rapid, cost-effective, and scalable strategy for preparing a high-performance photothermal hydrogel coating that will find sustainable and practical application in solar-driven water purification.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c12073 | DOI Listing |
Nat Commun
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
The development of mechanically robust super-lubrication hydrogel materials with sustained lubricity at high contact pressures is challenging. In this work, inspired by the durable lubricity feature of the earthworm epidermis, a multilevel structural super-lubrication hydrogel (MS-SLH) system, the so-called lubricant self-pumping hydrogel, is developed. The MS-SLH system is manufactured by chemically dissociating a double network hydrogel to generate robust and wrinkled lubrication layer, and then laser etching was used to generate cylindrical texture pores as gland-like pockets for storing lubricants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
Physical & Materials Chemistry Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, Maharashtra 411008, India.
This work aims to deal with the challenges associated with designing complementary bifunctional electrocatalysts and a separator/membrane that enables rechargeable zinc-air batteries (RZABs) with nearly solid-state operability. This solid-state RZAB was accomplished by integrating a bifunctional electrocatalyst based on Ru-RuO interface nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped (N-doped) graphene (Ru-RuO/NGr) and a dual-doped poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel (d-PAA) electrolyte soaked in KOH with sodium stannate additive. The catalyst shows enhanced activity and stability toward the two oxygen reactions, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Cardiology and Medical Innovation Center, Shanghai East Hospital, The Institute for Biomedical Engineering & Nano Science, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, P. R. China.
Despite significant progress in skin wound healing, it is still a challenge to construct multifunctional bioactive dressings based on a highly aligned protein fiber coated hydrogel matrix for antifibrosis skin wound regeneration that is indistinguishable to native skin. In this study, a "dual-wheel-driven" strategy is adopted to modify the surface of methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) hydrogel with highly aligned magnetic nanocomposites-protein fiber assemblies (MPF) consisting of photothermal responsive antibacteria superparamagnetic nanocomposites-fibrinogen (Fg) complexes as the building blocks. Whole-phase healing properties of the modified hydrogel dressing, GelMA-MPF (GMPF), stem from the integration of Fg protein with RGD peptide activity decorated on the surface of the antibacterial magnetic nanoactuator, facilitating facile and reproducible dressing preparation by self-assembly and involving biochemical, morphological, and biophysical cues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
Hubei Biomass-Resource Chemistry and Environmental Biotechnology Key Laboratory, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Emerging Functional Coating Materials, School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China.
Achieving a synergy of biocompatibility and extreme environmental adaptability with excellent mechanical property remains challenging in the development of synthetic materials. Herein, a "bottom-up" solution-interface-induced self-assembly strategy is adopted to develop a compressible, anti-fatigue, extreme environment adaptable, biocompatible, and recyclable organohydrogel composed of chitosan-lignosulfonate-gelatin by constructing noncovalent bonded conjoined network. The ethylene glycol/water solvent induced lignosulfonate nanoparticles function as bridge in chitosan/gelation network, forming multiple interfacial interactions that can effectively dissipate energy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The objective was to use cyclic tensile loading to compare the gap formation at suture site of three different suture materials to repair bovine radial meniscal tears: (1) polyglactin sutures, (2) tough adhesive puncture sealing (TAPS) sutures and (3) ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) sutures.
Methods: Twelve ex vivo bovine knees were dissected to retrieve the menisci. Complete radial tears were performed on 24 menisci, which were then separated into three groups and repaired using either pristine 2-0 polyglactin sutures, TAPS sutures (2-0 polyglactin sutures coated with adhesive chitosan/alginate hydrogels) or 2-0 UHMWPE sutures with a single stitch.
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