Hierarchical structured MnO@SiO nanofibrous membranes with superb flexibility and enhanced catalytic performance.

Constructing nanostructured catalyst-embedded ceramic fibrous membranes would facilitate the remediation or preliminary treatment of dyeing wastewater, however, most of such membranes are brittle with low deformation resistance, thus, restricting their widely applications. Herein, the flexible and hierarchical nanostructured MnO-immobilized SiO nanofibrous membranes (MnO@SiO NFM) were fabricated by combining the electrospinning technique with hydrothermal method. The morphologies of membranes could be regulated from nanowires and nanoflower to mace-like structure via varying concentration of reactants.

Effects of coagulation conditions on structure and properties of cellulose-based fibers from aqueous NaOH solvent.

Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) fibers with low degree of substitution were prepared by wet spinning of solutions in 8wt% NaOH solvent, and HSO/NaSO/ZnSO solution was chosen as coagulants. The influence of coagulation temperature and HSO concentration on structure and mechanical properties of resultant HEC fibers was examined by synchrotron X-ray measurements, scanning electron microscope and tensile tests. The results were analyzed from the perspective of coagulation kinetics by determining coagulation rate and mass transfer rate difference.

Low-Resistance Dual-Purpose Air Filter Releasing Negative Ions and Effectively Capturing PM.

The fatal danger of pollution due to particulate matter (PM) calls for both high-efficiency and low-resistance air purification materials, which also provide healthcare. This is however still a challenge. Herein, a low-resistance air filter capable of releasing negative ions (NIs) and efficiently capturing PM was prepared by electrospinning polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibers doped with negative ions powder (NIPs).

Polymeric micelles based on PEGylated chitosan-g-lipoic acid as carrier for efficient intracellular drug delivery.

To develop a drug delivery system with long circulation and controlled drug release in cancer cells, polymeric micelles based on PEGylated chitosan-g-lipoic acid were prepared to use as a drug delivery platform. These micelles possessed good stability and were stable in physiological environment and high salt concentrations. The in vitro drug release results implied that the drug carrier could maintain their stability and minimize the payload leakage in systemic circulation, but release drugs faster under intracellular redox condition.

Cleanable Air Filter Transferring Moisture and Effectively Capturing PM.

The lethal danger of particulate matter (PM) pollution on health leads to the development of challenging individual protection materials that should ideally exhibit a high PM purification efficiency, low air resistance, an important moisture-vapor transmission rate (MVTR), and an easy-to-clean property. Herein, a cleanable air filter able to rapidly transfer moisture and efficiently capture PM is designed by electrospinning superhydrophilic polyacrylonitrile/silicon-dioxide fibers as the adsorption-desorption vector for moisture-vapor, and hydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride fibers as the repellent components to avoid the formation of capillary water under high humidity. The desorption rate of water molecules increases from 10 to 18 mg min , while the diameters of polyacrylonitrile fibers reduce from 1.

Tailoring Mechanically Robust Poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) Nanofiber/nets for Ultrathin High-Efficiency Air Filter.

Effective promotion of air filtration applications proposed for fibers requires their real nanoscale diameter, optimized pore structure, and high service strength; however, creating such filter medium has proved to be a tremendous challenge. This study first establishes a strategy to design and fabricate novel poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) nanofiber/nets (PMIA NF/N) air filter via electrospinning/netting. Our strategy results in generation of a bimodal structure including a scaffold of nanofibers and abundant two-dimensional ultrathin (~20 nm) nanonets to synchronously construct PMIA filters by combining solution optimization, humidity regulation, and additive inspiration.

A Controlled Design of Ripple-Like Polyamide-6 Nanofiber/Nets Membrane for High-Efficiency Air Filter.

The filtration capacity of fibrous media for airborne particles is restricted by their thick diameter, low porosity, and limited frontal area. The ability to solve this problem would have broad technological implications for various air filtration applications; despite many past efforts, it remains a great challenge to achieve. Herein, a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate the ripple-like polyamide-6 nanofiber/nets (PA-6 NF/N) air filter via combining electrospinning/netting technique with receiving substrate design is demonstrated.

PEGylated chitosan protected silver nanoparticles as water-borne coating for leather with antibacterial property.

Development of eco-labeled and effectively antibacterial coatings for final leather products has been desiderated both by industry and by consumers. Herein, PEGylated chitosan modified silver nanoparticles (PEG-g-CS@AgNPs) were prepared and characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The antimicrobial activity of such silver nanoparticles was investigated against Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E.

Flexible Hierarchical ZrO Nanoparticle-Embedded SiO Nanofibrous Membrane as a Versatile Tool for Efficient Removal of Phosphate.

Functional nanoparticles modified silica nanofibrous materials with good flexibility, a hierarchical mesoporous structure, and excellent durability would have broad applications in efficient removal of contaminants, yet have proven to be enormously challenging to construct. Herein, we reported a strategy for rational design and fabricating flexible, hierarchical mesoporous, and robust ZrO nanoparticle-embedded silica nanofibrous membranes (ZrO/SiO NM) for phosphate removal by combining the chitosan dip-coating method with the electrospinning technique. Our approach allows ZrO nanoparticles to be in situ firmly and uniformly anchored onto SiO nanofibers to drastically enlarge the specific surface area and porosity of membranes.

Slip-Effect Functional Air Filter for Efficient Purification of PM.

Fabrication of air filtration materials (AFM) that allow air to easily flow through while retaining particles is a significant and urgent need due to the harmful airborne particulate matter pollution; however, this is still a challenging research area. Herein, we report novel slip-effect functional nanofibrous membranes with decreased air resistance (reduction rate of 40%) due to the slip flow of air molecules on the periphery of nanofibers. This was achieved through careful control over the diameters of electrospun polyacrylonitrile fibers and aperture size of fiber assembly.

Highly Integrated Polysulfone/Polyacrylonitrile/Polyamide-6 Air Filter for Multilevel Physical Sieving Airborne Particles.

Rational structural design involving controlled pore size, high porosity, and particle-targeted function is critical to the realization of highly efficient air filters, and the filter with absolute particle-screen ability has significant technological implications for applications including individual protection, industrial security, and environmental governance; however, it remains an ongoing challenge. In this study, we first report a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate the highly integrated polysulfone/polyacrylonitrile/polyamide-6 (PSU/PAN/PA-6) air filter for multilevel physical sieving airborne particles via sequential electrospinning. Our strategy causes the PSU microfiber (diameter of ∼1 μm) layer, PAN nanofiber (diameter of ∼200 nm) layer, and PA-6 nanonets (diameter of ∼20 nm) layer to orderly assemble into the integrated filter with gradually varied pore structures and high porosity and thus enables the filter to work efficiently by employing different layers to cut off penetration of particles with a certain size that exceeds the designed threshold level.

Tailoring Water-Resistant and Breathable Performance of Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibrous Membranes Modified by Polydimethylsiloxane.

The demand of water-resistant and breathable materials applied to a separation medium and protective garments is steadily increasing. Typical approaches to obtain these functional materials are based on hydrophobic agents and porous substrates with small fiber diameter, tiny pore, and high porosity. However, a fluorinated hydrophobic finishing agent usually employed in providing effective waterproofness is limited with respect to their environmental persistence and toxic potential.

Ultralight Biomass-Derived Carbonaceous Nanofibrous Aerogels with Superelasticity and High Pressure-Sensitivity.

Superelastic and pressure-sensitive carbonaceous nanofibrous aerogels with a honeycomb-like structure are fabricated through the combination of sustainable konjac glucomannan biomass and flexible SiO nanofibers. The aerogels can detect dynamic pressure with a wide pressure range and high sensitivity, which enables real pressure signals, such as human blood pulses, to be monitored in real time and in situ.

Hydrophobic cellulose films with excellent strength and toughness via ball milling activated acylation of microfibrillated cellulose.

Cellulose films with excellent mechanical strength are of interest to many researchers, but unfortunately they often lack the ductility and water resistance. This work demonstrates an efficient and easily industrialized method for hydrophobic cellulose films made of modified microfibrillated cellulose (MFC). Prior to film fabrication, the simultaneous exfoliation and acylation of MFC was achieved through the synergetic effect of mechanical and chemical actions generated from ball milling in the presence of hexanoyl chloride.

Electret Polyvinylidene Fluoride Nanofibers Hybridized by Polytetrafluoroethylene Nanoparticles for High-Efficiency Air Filtration.

Airborne particulate matter (PM) pollution has become a severe environmental concern calling for electret fibrous materials with high filtration efficiency and low pressure drop. However, restraining the dissipation of the electric charges in service to ensure the stabilized electrostatic force of the fibers for effectively adsorbing particles is extremely important and also challenging. Herein, we report novel electret nanofibrous membranes with numerous charges and desirable charge stability using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as the matrix polymer and polytetrafluoroethylene nanoparticles (PTFE NPs) as an inspiring charge enhancer through the in situ charging technology of electrospinning.

Zwitterionic Phosphorylcholine-TPE Conjugate for pH-Responsive Drug Delivery and AIE Active Imaging.

Polymeric micelles have emerged as a promising nanoplatform for cancer theranostics. Herein, we developed doxorubicin (DOX) encapsulated pH-responsive polymeric micelles for combined aggregation induced emission (AIE) imaging and chemotherapy. The novel zwitterionic copolymer poly(2-methacryloyloxyethylphosphorylcholine-co-2-(4-formylphenoxy)ethyl methacrylate) (poly(MPC-co-FPEMA)) was synthesized via RAFT polymerization and further converted to PMPC-hyd-TPE after conjugation of tetraphenylethene (TPE, a typical AIE chromophore) via acid-cleavable hydrazone bonds.

Intracellular Dual Fluorescent Lightup Bioprobes for Image-Guided Photodynamic Cancer Therapy.

An intracellular dual fluorescent light-up bioprobe with aggregation-induced emission features and endogenously producing photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) abilities is designed and synthesized. The bioprobe is nonemissive in physiological environment. However, the bioprobe can selectively light up cancer cells with blue fluorescence of tetraphenylene (TPE) and red fluorescence of PpIX, owing to the release of TPE and methyl aminolevulinate after targeted internalization by cancer cells.

Highly flexible NiCo2O4/CNTs doped carbon nanofibers for CO2 adsorption and supercapacitor electrodes.

Controllable synthesis of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with hierarchical porosity and high flexibility are extremely desirable for CO2 adsorption and energy storage applications. Herein, we report a nickel cobaltite/carbon nanotubes doped CNFs (NiCo2O4/CNTs CNFs) mesoporous membrane that shows well-developed flexibility, tailored pore structure, hydrophobic character, and high stability. Ascribed to these unique features, NiCo2O4/CNTs CNFs membrane shows high CO2 capture of 1.

Scalable Fabrication of Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes Functionalized with Citric Acid for High-Performance Protein Adsorption.

Fabricating protein adsorbents with high adsorption capacity and appreciable throughput is extremely important and highly desired for the separation and purification of protein products in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries, yet still remains a great challenge. Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis of a novel protein adsorbent by in situ functionalizing eletrospun ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) nanofibrous membranes (NFM) with critic acid (CCA). Taking advantage of the merits of large specific surface area, highly tortuous open-porous structure, abundant active carboxyl groups introduced by CCA, superior chemical stability, and robust mechanical strength, the obtained CCA-grafted EVOH NFM (EVOH-CCA NFM) present an excellent integrated protein (take lysozyme as the model protein) adsorption performance with a high capacity of 284 mg g(-1), short equilibrium time of 6 h, ease of elution, and good reusability.

Insights into the flexibility of ZrMxOy (M = Na, Mg, Al) nanofibrous membranes as promising infrared stealth materials.

A surprising brittle to flexible transition in ZrMxOy (M = Na, Mg, Al) nanofibrous membranes was found by varying the undersized dopant species and content. The fiber morphology, crystalline structure, and pore structure of the ZrMxOy nanofibrous membranes can be significantly modulated by varying the dopant valence from +1 to 3 and the dopant content from 1 to 20 mol%, respectively. Meanwhile, a classical Hall-Petch effect was revealed for the ZrMxOy nanofibrous membranes systems, which corresponded to a nanocrystalline size of 22.

Anti-deformed Polyacrylonitrile/Polysulfone Composite Membrane with Binary Structures for Effective Air Filtration.

Airborne particle filtration proposed for fibers requires their assembly into porous structures with small pore size and low packing density. The ability to maintain structural stability upon deformation stress in service is essential to ensure a highly porous packing material that functions reliably; however, it has proven extremely challenging. Here, we report a strategy to create anti-deformed poly(ethylene oxide)@polyacrylonitrile/polysulfone (PEO@PAN/PSU) composite membranes with binary structures for effective air filtration by combining multijet electrospinning and physical bonding process.

Aesthetic perception of visual textures: a holistic exploration using texture analysis, psychological experiment, and perception modeling.

Modeling human aesthetic perception of visual textures is important and valuable in numerous industrial domains, such as product design, architectural design, and decoration. Based on results from a semantic differential rating experiment, we modeled the relationship between low-level basic texture features and aesthetic properties involved in human aesthetic texture perception. First, we compute basic texture features from textural images using four classical methods.

Ready-to-use strip for L-ascorbic acid visual detection based on polyaniline/polyamide 66 nano-fibers/nets membranes.

A ready-to-use L-ascorbic acid (L-AA) colorimetric strip based on polyaniline (PANI)/polyamide 66 (PA 66) nanofiber/net (NFN) membrane with spider-web-like structure was fabricated through a facile bend electrospinning/netting process. Introduction of PANI component into the membrane turns the strip undergoes a brilliant brown-to-green color transition within 30 min upon incubation with L-AA. Moreover, ascribing to the three-dimensional microscopic structural, continuous pore channels, and distinctive nano-nets structure, the color change that is caused by 50 ppb L-AA can be easily perceived by naked eyes.

A pH-responsive AIE nanoprobe as a drug delivery system for bioimaging and cancer therapy.

To construct a smart drug delivery system for simultaneous cellular imaging and cancer therapy, a pH-responsive amphiphilic polymer (MPEG-hyd-TPE) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) character was designed and successfully synthesized. Polymeric micelles self-assembled from MPEG-hyd-TPE exhibited a significant AIE effect in an aqueous solution with excellent biocompatibility; thus, it can be used for potential bioimaging applications. Moreover, the drug-loaded micelles showed typical pH-regulated drug release behavior.

Efficient and reusable polyamide-56 nanofiber/nets membrane with bimodal structures for air filtration.

Nanofibrous media that both possess high airborne particle interception efficiency and robust air permeability would have broad technological implications for areas ranging from individual protection and industrial security to environmental governance; however, creating such filtration media has proved extremely challenging. Here we report a strategy to construct the bio-based polyamide-56 nanofiber/nets (PA-56 NFN) membranes with bimodal structures for effective air filtration via one-step electrospinning/netting. The PA-56 membranes are composed of completely covered two-dimensional (2D) ultrathin (∼20 nm) nanonets which are optimized by facilely regulating the solution concentration, and the bonded scaffold fibers constructed cavity structures which are synchronously created by using the CH3COOH inspiration.